AUFEOFST.PAUL 
*FORTHE YOUNG* 



7 



I GEORGE* L WEED • 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Chap. Copyright No. 

Shelt,I 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



Paul Gustave Dore 



A Life of St. Paul 

for the Young 



BY 

George Ludington Weed 

Author of " A Life of Christ for the Young" " Great 
Truths Simply Told;' Etc. 



PHILADELPHIA 

GEORGE W. JACOBS & CO 

105-105 South Fifteenth Street 




43279 

Copyright, 1899, by 
George W. Jacobs & Co 

TWO COPIES RECEIVED. 




PREFATORY NOTE 



This volume is a continued narrative, including in 
chronological order, scenes and incidents of the life of 
Paul, and such of his simple teachings as will enable 
the young to understand something of the noble great- 
ness of the man, and the value of the truths he taught, 
and for which he suffered and died. While many 
Lives of this Apostle have been written and are of ex- 
ceeding value to the scholar and adult reader, very few 
have been prepared for the young— none it is believed 
of recent date. While such are familiar with stories 
of heroism, patriotism, adventure and noble deeds, 
Paul is often known by them only as a famous name. 
The frequent interweaving of Biblical forms of ex- 
pression is to aid in associating the facts here recorded 
with the Sacred Record from which they are chiefly 
derived. 

The want of unanimity concerning the chronology 
of the Life of Paul, even among the twenty-six schol- 
ars who have made this a special study, suggests that 
the dates are only approximate. The table by Alford. 
is given at the end of the book. 

With the aid of the four maps especially prepared to 

1 



2 Prefatory Note 

accompany this volume, the young reader may be en- 
couraged to follow Paul in his journeys; while the 
many illustrations will aid in giving reality to the 
scenes of his life. Visits to many of the places de- 
scribed have helped to make that life vivid and real to 
the author. 

The full Table of Contents is prepared with refer- 
ence to review by parents and teachers, thus adapting 
it for use as a text-book for special study, if so 
desired. 

For facts and many suggestive thoughts, cordial 
acknowledgment of indebtedness is made to scholars 
who have contributed largely to the wealth of litera- 
ture pertaining to the Life of St. Paul; especially 
Conybeare and Howson, Macduff, Farrar, Lewin, 
Stalker, Goodwin, and Gilbert. 

G. L. W. 

Philadelphia, June, 1899. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 

BOYHOOD HOME IN TARSUS 

i 

The Homes of Jesus and of Saul — Plain of Cilicia — River Cydnus 
— Tarsus — Roman City — Saul a Roman Citizen — Civilized 
Nations — Jews — Gentiles — Greeks — Romans — Augustus 
Caesar — Pagan Religion — " The Boy the Father of the Man " 
— .Saul's Parents and Sister — The Tribe of Benjamin — The 
Name Saul — Language of Saul — Golden Texts — Sayings of 
Rabbis — Psalms — Old Testament Scriptures 

CHAPTER II 

SAUL THE SCHOOLBOY 
" A Vineyard " — " A Son of the Commandment " — Studies — The 
Messiah — The Land of the Jews — Gentile Schools — School 
Friendships — Barnabas — Pharisees — Some Good Pharisees 
— Jewish Boy in a Heathen City — Tentmaking — Trade 
Proverbs — Saul's Trade — The Boy in the Home — Views 
from the Roof — Boy Wanderings — Memory of Childhood 
Scenes — Games — In the Schoolroom 

CHAPTER III 

LEAVING HOME FOR JERUSALEM 
Four Universities — Plans for Jerusalem — Farewell to Tarsus — 
Storm at Sea — Lebanon — Villages — Carmel — Nazareth — 
Csesarea 

CHAPTER IV 

IN THE SCHOOL OF GAMALIEL 
Synagogue Schools — School of Hillel — Scripture Studies — Mes- 
siah — Saviour — Simeon — Simeon's Son- — Gamaliel, the Great 
Rabbi — The Bright Pupil — School Work — Barnabas and 
Saul — Saul and the Scriptures 



4 



Contents 



CHAPTER V 

THE YOUNG PHARISEE AND RABBI 

i 

The Temple School — The Boys Jesus and Saul — Other Boys — 
Saul the Young Pharisee — God's Laws and Jewish Traditions 
— Rab, Rabbi, Rabban — The Most Promising Y^oung Man — 
Great Changes to Come — Onkelos 

CHAPTER VI 

CHRIST AND EARLY CHRISTIANITY 

John the Baptist — Jesus the Teacher — Jesus the Miracle-worker 
— Jesus Rejected and Crucified — The Resurrection and the 
Great Command — Farewell in Jerusalem — Ascension — 
Meaning of the Word Gospel — Followers of Jesus in Jeru- 
salem — A Strange People — Day of Pentecost 

CHAPTER VII 

ST. STEPHEN, THE FIRST CHRISTIAN MARTYR 

Church Deacons — Stephen — Synagogue of Cilicia — Three Great 
Questions — Saul in the Synagogue — Stephen in the Sanhe- 
drin — "The Face of an Angel" — A Heavenly Vision — 
Stephen Dragged Out of the City — Memories of Olivet — 
Stephen Stoned — Saul the Guardian of Robes — Two Short 
Prayers — " A Friend and Witness Near " — Answered Prayer 
— A Lasting Impression — A Terrible Name 

CHAPTER VIII 

SAUL THE PERSECUTOR 

Persecution — Saul a Leader — Mistaken Zeal — Cruelty — Christians 
Scattered Abroad — High Priest's Letter — Saul Starts for 
Damascus — Gibea — Bethel — Shiloh — Samaria — Sychar — 
Tomb of Joseph — Sea of Galilee — Busy Thoughts — Possible 
Doubts 



Contents 



5 



CHAPTER IX 

THE VISION OF JESUS — THE CHANGED LIFE 

PAGE 

Contrasted Scenes — Leader of a Cavalcade — An Earthly Paradise 
— An Arab Prince — A Great Light — " Jesus of Nazareth " 
— The Great Change — Saul's Blindness — Damascus — Three 
Silent Days — Saul's Vision of Peace — Ananias' Vision — 
" Brother Saul " .61 

CHAPTER X 

THE LONE FUGITIVE IN ARABIA — THE RETURN TO DAMASCUS 
AND JERUSALEM 

The New Commission — In the Synagogues — Hatred and Danger 
— Needed Teaching — Arabia — Moses — Elijah — Return to 
Damascus — Again in the Synagogue — Plot to Kill — The Es- 
cape — Return to Jerusalem — Suggestive Scenes — Changed 
Circumstances — Relation to Christians 68 

CHAPTER XI 

THE NEW CONVERT IN JERUSALEM 
Tradition of Barnabas — Saul and Peter — The Two Visions — Saul 
and the Apostles — Trance in the Temple — Departure for 
Cilicia 74 

CHAPTER XII 

PETER AND THE GENTILES 
Joppa — Simon the Tanner — Simon Peter's Great Question — A 
Vision — Messengers — Cornelius' Vision — Peter's Visit to 
Caesarea — A Great Truth — Gentile Converts — Peter and the 
Jerusalem Church , . . 78 

CHAPTER XIII 

ANTIOCH IN SYRIA 
The Second Capital of Christianity — Description of Antioch — 
Statue and Temple — An Ignoble Queen — Apollo — Christians 
in Antioch — Barnabas — Sent for Saul — Saul in Antioch — 
The Name Christian — A Nickname — Changed Meaning . . 83 



6 



Contents 



CHAPTER XIV 

BARNABAS AND SAUL SENT TO JERUSALEM 

PAGE 

A Year in Corinth — Agabus and Famine in Judea — Christian 
Sympathy — The Delegates to Jerusalem — Herod Agrippa L — 
Martyrdom of James — The Three Favored Disciples — Legend 
of James — Imprisonment of Peter — Home of John Mark — 
Night Prayer-meeting — Peter's Angel — Claudius and Herod 
— " The Voice of a God " — Death of Herod — Return to An- 
tioch with John Mark 87 

CHAPTER XV 

BEGINNING OF THE FIRST MISSIONARY JOURNEY 
Antioch — Simeon's Prophecy — Peter's Vision — Paul's Vision — 
Five Prophets and Teachers — The Holy Spirit's Call — The 
Consecration — The Departure — Orontes River — Seleucia — 
On the Sea — Cyprus — Salamis — Memorials of Barnabas — 
Barnabas and Saul — Paul and Barnabas — Paphos — Venus, 
Worship and Temple — Sergius Paulus — Elymas — Punish- 
ment for Blasphemy — Royal Convert 93 

CHAPTER XVI 

PERGA — "PERILS IN THE WILDERNESS" 
Perga in Pamphylia — Situation — Temple of Diana — Return of 
John Mark to Jerusalem — Supposed Reasons — Paul's Friend- 
ship — Mountain Travel — Scenery — Perils of Rivers and Rob- 
bers — Mountain Flowers — Plains — Dangers and Annoyances, 101 



CHAPTER XVII 

ANTIOCH IN PISIDIA — ICONIUM 
Antioch in Pisidia — Tentmaking and Preaching — Synagogue 
and its Worship — The Two Strangers — Paul's Address — Ef- 
fect of Paul's Preaching — Solemn Farewell — Persecuting 
Women and Chief Men — Church Founded — Journey to 
Iconium — Its Situation — Persecution — Flight 105 



Contents 



7 



CHAPTER XVIII 

LYSTRA 

PAGE 

Location — " The King of Pagan Gods " — Paul's Preaching 
Places — Cripple Healed — Mistaken for Gods — Jupiter and 
Mercury — Homage Offered and Refused — Changed Feeling 
— Paul Stoned — As from the Dead 109 



CHAPTER XIX 

TIMOTHY — DERBE AND THE HOMEWARD JOURNEY 

Lois, Eunice and Timothy — The Wounded Apostle — Paul and 
Timothy — Derbe — Return Journey — Churches Visited — Sail- 
ing for Syria — Syrian Antioch — Report to the Church — Sum- 
mary by Paul 115 



CHAPTER XX 

CHRISTIAN JEWS AND GENTILES 

Jewish Treatment of Gentiles— Serious Question in the Christian 
Church — Mistaken Feeling in Jerusalem — Paul and Barnabas 
sent to Jerusalem — Titus — A Private Meeting — A Church 
Meeting — A Happy Decision — An Important Letter — The 
First General Council — Paul and John 119 



CHAPTER XXI 

BEGINNING OF PAUL'S SECOND MISSIONARY JOURNEY 

Two Years at Antioch — Plan for a Second Journey — Trouble 
Concerning John Mark — Barnabas and Mark — Paul and Silas 
— Second Journey Begun — Route — Timothy a New Compan- 
ion of Paul — At Antioch in Pisidia — Cybele — " Thorn in the 
Flesh " — Christian Sympathy — Troas — " The Beloved Phy- 
sician "—First Sight of Europe — A Vision — Macedonian 
Cry 123 



8 



Contents 



CHAPTER XXII 

PHILIPPI 

PAGE 

Riverside Prayer-meeting — Lydia — A Slave Girl with an Evil 
Spirit — Cast Out by Paul — Arrest of Paul and Silas — Beaten 
— Imprisonment — Songs in the Night — Earthquake — The 
Philippian Jailer — Alarmed Magistrates — Paul a Roman Cit- 
izen — The Great Question and its Only Answer 131 

CHAPTER XXIII 

AMPH1POLIS — THESSALONICA — BEREA 
A Night in Amphipolis— Thessalonica — A Central City — Paul's 
Poverty and Labor — In the Synagogue — A Model Church — 
Jason — Paul and Silas Sent Away — Berea — Bereans — A 
Berean Study — Hunted Like Prey 140 

CHAPTER XXIV 

PAUL AT ATHENS 
Contrasts in Paul's Life — Piraeus — Heathen Gods — Statues — The 
Agora — Athenians — Acropolis — Parthenon — Minerva — 
Alone in Athens — Teaching — Epicureans — Stoics — Paul on 
Mars Hill— His Address— The Result 148 

CHAPTER XXV 

PAUL AT CORINTH AND THE SECOND JOURNEY ENDED 
Cenchrea — Corinth — Religion and Character of Population — Co- 
rinthian Entertainments — Heavenly Race and Crown — Aquila 
and Priscilla — -Their Relation to Paul — In the Synagogue — 
Crispus — Paul's Vision — The Home of Justus — The Church 
of Corinth — Gallio and Paul — The First Epistles — Farewell 
— Phoebe — The Fourth Visit to Jerusalem 155 

CHAPTER XXVI 

BEGINNING OF PAUL'S MISSIONARY JOURNEY — EPHESUS 
Galatia — Phrygia — Ephesus — Location — The City of John's Vi- 
sion — Pagan Wickedness — Temple of Diana — Foolish Pride 



Contents 9 

PAGE 

— Hidden Marble — Second Temple — Within the Temple — 
Idol Room — Image of Diana — " Ephesian Letters" — Im- 
postures — Apollos — Disciples of John 162 



CHAPTER XXVII 

TRIALS AND TRIUMPHS IN EPHESUS 
Synagogue and Schoolhouse — Handkerchiefs and Aprons — Seven 
Deceiving Brothers — A Bonfire of Books — The Month of 
Diana — Presidents of Games — Entertainments — Views of the 
City — Mementos— Effect of Paul's Preaching — Demetrius — 
Effect of His Speech— The Mob— Paul's Farewell to Ephe- 
sus— The Capitals of Christianity — Summary of Paul's Trials, 170 

CHAPTER XXVIII 

THE CHURCH AND CITY OF EPHESUS IN GLORY AND FALL 
St. John and the Mother of Jesus— Graves on Mount Prion — 
Christianity and Mohammedanism — The Ruins of Ephesus 
— The Architect's Inscription — Alexander and Paul . . . .178 

CHAPTER XXIX 

PHILIPPI AND CORINTH REVISITED 
Troas — Church in Philippi — Paul's Memories of Philippi — Cor- 
inth — Contrast to Former Visit — Sad News from Galatia — 
Epistle to the Galatians — Christians in Rome — Epistle to the 
Romans — Paul's Great Subject — Phoebe 182 

CHAPTER XXX 

FIFTH AND LAST JOURNEY TO JERUSALEM 
Plot in Corinth — Philippi — Farewell Meeting — Eutychus — A 
Lone Walk — Assos — Mitylene — Visit from the Elders of 
Ephesus — Meeting on the Seashore — Tender Farewell — 
Rhodes — Colossus — From Patara to Tyre — Paul's Cloak — 
Paul's Father — Another Farewell on the Seashore — Ptolemais 
— Ccesarea — Hand and Voice — Noble Words — Third Mis- 
sionary Journey Ended 186 



lO 



Contents 



CHAPTER XXXI 

Paul's last days in Jerusalem 

i 

Feast of Thanksgiving — Claudius Lysias — Christian Friends in 
Jerusalem — Enemies — Riot in the Temple Court — Mistaken 
for an Impostor — Speech on the Stairs — Saved from Scourg- 
ing — Before the Sanhedrin — Insult Reproved — Vision in the 
Barracks — Vow of Forty Plotters for Murder — Defeated by 
Paul's Nephew — Under Guard to Caesarea 

CHAPTER XXXII 

TWO YEARS IN C/ESAREA 
Paul before Felix — Drusilla — Contrasts — Prisoner's Speech in a 
Palace- — Prison Visitors — Felix no Longer Governor — Festus 
in Jerusalem with the Jews — Paul before Festus in Caesarea 
— The Appeal unto Caesar — Agrippa II. — Noble Apostle be- 
fore Ignoble Royalty — Reflections of Agrippa and of Paul — 
- Paul's Story of Himself — Agrippa's Response — From Palace 
to Dungeon 

CHAPTER XXXIII 

THE SHIPWRECK 
The Apostle Prisoner — Julius — Paul's Ship — Companions — Sidon 
— Contrary Winds — Passing Cilicia — Myra — Historic Vessel 
— Cnidus and Crete — Paul's Warning — Storm and Danger — 
Clauda — Leaking Ship — Hope Lost — Praying Passenger — 
Subject for a Painter — A Prisoner a Prophet — The Angel of 
the Ship — The Lord of the Sea— Human Lives a Gift to 
Paul — Dark Days and Nights — Breakers — Sailors' Selfish 
Plan — Paul's Protest — His Cheerful Assurance and Example 
— Unknown Land — Shattered Ship — Prisoners Saved for 
Paul's Sake 



CHAPTER XXXIV 

ISLAND OF MALTA — "TOWARD ROME" — IN PRISON 
The Certain Island— The Islanders — Paul Bitten by a Viper — 



Contents 



PAGE 

Mistaken for a God — Ministry of Healing — " Castor and 
Pollux " — Syracuse — Rhegium — Buried Fires and Buried 
Cities — Puteoli — Appian Way — Appii Forum — Three Tav- 
erns — Approach to the City — Via Sacra — The Forum — Julius 
and Burrus — Prison Life — Roman Guards — Friends and 
Helpers — Liberty — Missionary Journeys 220 

CHAPTER XXXV 

THE END 

The Burning of Rome — Nero and Christians — Arrest of Paul — 
Mamertine Prison — Friends — Letter to Timothy — Paul's 
Cloak — Parchments — Memorable Words — The Death of Paul 
— Nero — Summary 228 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



St. Paul 



Guslave Dore 



Nazareth 
Tarsus . 

Hebrew Pentateuch 

Numbers vi 
Jerusalem 

Coming of the Holy Ghost at 

Pentecost 
The Stoning of St. Stephen 
Damascus 

Town and Lake of Tiberius 
Sechem or Sychar 
Saul's Conversion . 
Damascus Gate 
Joppa .... 
Caesarea 

Antioch in Syria . 
St. Peter Delivered from Prison 
Map of First Missionary Journey .... 
Cyprus .... From an Old Engraving 
St. Paul Preaching . . . . . Bida 
Elymas Struck with Blindness . From an Old Print 
Antioch in Pisiclia . . From an Old Engraving 
The " Book of the Law " . Oxford Bible Illustration 
Iconium . . . From an Old Engraving 
Paul and Barnabas at Lystra . . . Raphael 
Map of Second Missionary Journey 
St. Paul Expelling the Evil Spirit from the 

Damsel of Philippi 
Paul and Silas in Prison . From an Old Print 



From an Old Engraving 
From an Old Engraving 

3 10 } O x f or d Bible Illustration 

From an Old Engraving 

j- From an Old Print 

Gustave Dore 
From an Old Engraving 
From an Old Engraving 
From an Old Engraving 
Gustave Dore 
From a Photograph 
From an Old Engraving 
Prom an Old Engraving 
From an Old Engraving 
From an Old Print 



| J. Opie 



Frontispiece. 
Facing Page 
IS 



List of Illustrations 



The Conversion of the Jailer 
St. Paul at Thessalonica 
Acropolis at Athens 
St. Paul Preaching at Athens 
Corinth 
Temple of 



From an Old Print 
Gustave Dore 
From a Photograph 
Raphael 

From an Old Engraving 
the Acronlede or ) E , „ 7 , .* 

Minerva at Corinth . . \ From a Olograph 

Map of Third Missionary Journey .... 
Temple of Diana at Ephesus, Oxford Bible Illustration 
Image of Diana . . Oxford Bible Illustration 
St. Paul at Ephesus . . . Gustave Dore 
St. Paul Raising Eutychus to Life, From an Old Print 
Farewell at Miletus . . From an Old Print 

' | Gustave Dore 

St. Paul Before Felix . . From an Old Print 

Map of Journey to Rome 

St. Paul Shipwrecked . . . Gustave Dore 
St. Paul Shaking off the Viper . From an Old Print 



Facing page 

'37 



St. Paul Attacked by the Jews at Jeru 
salem ..... 



St. Paul Healing Publius 

Puteoli .... 

Appian Way . 

Roman Forum in Ruins 

The Colosseum 

« Old St. Paul's " in Rome 

St. Paul the Apostle . 



From an Old Print 
From an Old Engraving 
From a Photograph 
From an Old Engraving 
y. L. Gerome 
From a Photograph 
Artist Unknown 




. 



The Life of St. Paul 



CHAPTER I 

Boyhood Home in Tarsus 

Palestine lies on the east of the Mediterranean sea. 
Northwest of it, bordering on the same sea, is Asia 
Minor. Two thousand years ago a division of Pales- 
tine was called Galilee; and a division of Asia Minor, 
Cilicia. They were provinces of the Roman Empire; 
by which we mean that their people had been con- 
quered and were governed by an emperor in the dis- 
tant city of Rome. In Galilee was the town of Naza- 
reth; and in Cilicia, the town of Tarsus. In Nazareth 
lived a boy Jesus; and in Tarsus the boy Saul, after- 
ward known as Paul. Little did the people of Naza- 
reth think that the most marvelous being of our world 
lived among them; and as little did the people of Tar- 
sus think that young Saul was to be one of the most 
wonderful of men. In following Saul so far as we 
can, from his childhood to his death, we must re- 
member some things about his country and home, 

15 



16 The Life of St Paul 

the people among whom he lived, his education, and 
many other things which helped to make him what he 
became— the great apostle of Jesus Christ. 

In Cilicia the Taurus mountains run parallel to the 
Mediterranean coast. Between the range and the sea 
is a fertile plain, whose great heat in the summer 
drives most of the people to the cooler air of the 
mountain slopes. Many streams are formed or fed by 
the melted snows. One of the largest is the Cydnus, 
a cold and rapid stream, which dashes over the rocks, 
and winds among the valleys, and flows through the 
plain where palm-trees and beautiful gardens line its 
banks until it enters into the sea. 

On this Cilician plain, near the Taurus mountains, 
on the Cydnus river, twelve miles from its mouth, 
was the city of Tarsus. It was a center of business, 
education, and political power. Vast quantities of 
timber cut in the mountain forests were floated from it 
to the Mediterranean. Vessels brought to it treasures 
from Europe. Riches from the regions around it were 
here gathered to be sent to Greece and Italy. Its 
streets and markets and bazaars were scenes of busy 
life. Varied kinds of dress and different languages 
showed that people of different nations lived within 
its walls. It was a great contrast to the squalid Mo- 
hammedan city of to-day. 

Tarsus was the Roman capital of Cilicia. The peo- 



IP 



Boyhood Home in Tarsus 17 

pie were compelled to obey Roman laws and to aid in 
fighting the enemies of Rome. Yet they were allowed 
to make some laws for themselves and to choose some 
of their officers. So Tarsus was called a free city. 

Saul's father was probably a Roman citizen: so was 
he. This gave him protection in times of trouble, as 
we shall see. When Tarsus was no longer his home, 
he remembered it with interest and honest pride. He 
spoke of it as "no mean city." Ever since his day its 
name has been linked with his. 

If we would understand the life of Saul, we must 
remember some things about the nations that lived two 
thousand years ago. Only three of them were civilized 
— having learning, refinement and good government. 
They were the Jews, Greeks and Romans. 

The Jews were the worshipers of the true God, 
having the Old Testament Scriptures, which taught 
them about Him and Jesus Christ whom they called 
the Messiah. All other nations were Gentiles. They 
were Pagans — worshipers of false gods. Such were 
the Greeks and Romans. The Greeks were noted for 
their learning — not the wise things taught in the Scrip- 
tures, but what they learned without the Bible, much 
of which was contrary to its teachings. The Roman 
nation was noted for its vast dominion, its power 
over other nations, and its great wealth. Augustus 
Caesar, the greatest of the Roman emperors, ruled 



18 The Life of St Paul 

over a very large part of mankind. Rome, his capital, 
was full of riches obtained of the nations he had con- 
quered. It was adorned with magnificent temples 
and palaces. 

Though civilized nations have much that is good, 
they may have much that is evil. Wherever God is not 
worshiped and obeyed, wickedness abounds. Mere 
learning will not make a people good, nor will the 
power and riches of the mightiest kingdom. So it 
was with the nations of Greece and Rome. Their 
Pagan religion was a strange mixture of beliefs which 
did not help to make them better. They gave to idols 
the reverence and worship which are due to God 
alone. Jews, Greeks and Romans lived in Tarsus. 
Saul was a Jewish boy in a heathen city. 

We do not often think of him as a boy, but as a 
man or as " Paul the Aged." But those younger days 
were ever fresh in his memory. After fifty years he 
recalled the time when he " was a child, and spake as 
a child, and understood as a child, and thought as a 
child." 

" The childhood shows the man, 
As morning shows the day." 

When we remember that "the boy is the father of 
the man" — that the man will become what the boy 
was — we are interested in the early life. It was the 
honest, diligent, faithful, studious boy George Wash- 



o>w Afe^y T^rnS^ "rSyV? -jjjnfo 



Hebrew Pentateuch — Numbers vi. 3-10. 

(Twelfth Century) 

British Museum, Oriental Ms. 1467 

The text is accompanied by the Chaldee Targum or " trans- 
lation," commonly attributed to Onkelos ; the two versions 
being written in alternate verses. The vowel points are writ- 
ten above the line. 

From Bible Illustrations, copyright by Henry Frowde. 1896. 



Boyhood Home in Tarsus 19 

ington who became the great general and president. 
It was the boy Napoleon, interested in his toy-cannon, 
that became the conqueror and emperor. 

It is probable that Saul's father moved from Pales- 
tine to Tarsus where the future apostle was born. 
We do not know the exact date of the son's birth, but 
probably it was about a. d. 3. Of Saul's mother we 
know nothing. We wish we did. We love to think 
of the boy Samuel with his mother Hannah; and John 
— afterward the Baptist — with Elisabeth; and Timo- 
thy with Eunice; and Jesus with Mary. We know 
Saul had a sister, to whom we can believe he was 
a true and noble brother. We shall see how her son 
cared for his uncle in a time of trouble in Jerusalem. 

The Jews were divided into twelve tribes. One of 
these was Benjamin. The first Jewish king was Saul 
— a favorite name by which many a boy was called. 
Little Saul of Tarsus was also of the tribe of Benjamin, 
and perhaps was named after the king who had lived 
eleven hundred years before him. Many names, espe- 
cially among the Jews, had a meaning. Saul means 
"the desired," or " prayed for," or "asked of God." 
Perhaps he was the firstborn son in whom his parents 
so rejoiced that they gave him that name. 

Young Saul was taught to speak Hebrew, the lan- 
guage of the Jews. It is almost certain that he also 
learned Greek which was much used in Tarsus. 



20 



The Life of St Paul 



We know something of life in the Jewish homes, 
and so we can think of much that was done for Saul, 
and of what he did for himself. The first words 
which many a child in a Christian home now learns 
before it can read, are those of Jesus, "Suffer little 
children to come unto Me and forbid them not, for 
of such is the kingdom of heaven." But Jesus had 
not spoken these words when Saul was a boy. His 
first golden text was probably one given by God to 
Moses. It was this: "The Lord our God is one 
Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
might." The child was taught this text before he was 
five years old. A Rabbi — a learned Jewish teacher — 
who lived long ago said, "The boy of five years of 
age ought to apply to the study of the Sacred Scrip- 
tures." Another Rabbi said, " When the boy begins to 
talk, his father ought to converse with him in the 
sacred language, and teach him the law." At that 
early age his parents would also teach him a part of 
the one hundred and thirteenth Psalm, giving him an 
idea of the greatness of God Who is worthy of the 
highest praise; and also a part of the one hundred and 
eighteenth Psalm, especially its first and last verses 
whose words are the same, " Oh give thanks unto the 
Lord; for He is good; because His mercy endureth 
forever." 



Boyhood Home in Tarsus 21 

At five the boy himself began to read the Old Tes- 
tament Scriptures in Hebrew, the language in which 
they were written. Saul also learned at some time to 
read a 'translation of them into the Greek language. 
When he became Paul the Apostle he wrote to Timo- 
thy, "From a child thou hast known the Holy Scrip- 
tures." The same might have been said to him. He 
became familiar with the stories of Moses, and Joseph, 
and Samuel and David. He had not the aid of pictures 
that so interest the child of to-day, and help him to un- 
derstand the story. He read and heard of the Messiah 
that was to come. There was no New Testament tell- 
ing of the angels, and the shepherds, and the Babe of 
Bethlehem; of the wonderful Child in the Temple; of 
the miracles in Galilee and Jerusalem; of the death, 
resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. These 
things happened during the life of Saul. 



CHAPTER II 



Saul the Schoolboy 

At six years of age a Jewish boy went to a "vine- 
yard," as the Jewish teachers called their schools, to be 
trained with more faithfulness than the most careful 
vine dresser bestows on the most precious clusters .of 
his grapes. 

At ten he began to learn the simpler of the Jewish 
laws, continuing studies of this kind until he was 
thirteen, when he was promoted and called a " Son 
of the Commandment." At fifteen he was promoted 
again for harder study. 

There were no school books. The pupils would 
listen to all the teacher said, remember it and be able 
to tell it afterward. They studied arithmetic, history 
of the Jewish nation, and natural history: but the 
chief study was the Scriptures, and the chief subject 
was the Messiah. Young Saul, like other Jews, 
thought of Him chiefly as a great earthly king who 
would come and drive the Romans from Palestine, and 
reign there as Saul and David and Solomon had done 
a thousand years before. He had no thought that the 

22 



Saul the Schoolboy 23 



Messiah had come to be a king of another kind, and 
was even then a boy in the land of the Jews. Through 
hundreds of years it had been the home of his ances- 
tors. All through his early life he was told of its 
beauties and wonderful history. He learned of Jeru- 
salem its holy city, and the Temple the holy house of 
God. Visitors from there to his home would kindle 
the desire and inspire the hope that some day he 
would see them for himself. 

Meanwhile he was a Jewish schoolboy. There 
were Gentile schools, but his parents would not send 
him where so much of the teaching was false, and so 
many of the influences were for evil. 

Friendships are often formed in school days that last 
through life; they are among the most precious. In 
some respects they are unlike any others. Two boys 
in the same school, familiar with the same surround- 
ings, having the same studies and keeping up in them, 
then going to the same college or university to fit 
themselves for the same profession, and so having the 
same plans for life, helping and encouraging each 
other through all of their growing years — such students 
have so much in common that their friendship grows 
stronger and stronger. It is often helpful in later life, 
especially in times of trouble. 

Such a friendship had Saul. Seventy miles from 
his home, on the island of Cyprus, was a boy of kin- 



2 4 



The Life of St Paul 



dred spirit and purposes, who was sent to Tarsus to 
be educated in a Jewish school. There he would meet 
with Saul. Even when the two planned to be to- 
gether some day in the University of Jerusalem, they 
had no thought of the time when the one would be 
almost the only friend the other had in that city, or 
when for two years they would live together, or how 
they would travel and labor together for Him who was 
then a boy in Nazareth, of whom they knew not, but 
whom they would some day own as their Lord and 
Master. 

Some of the Jews were called Pharisees. They 
were very careful to do some things which God com- 
manded by Moses. They also taught the people to 
obey other laws which God had not given. Some of 
these were very foolish and hard to obey. The Phari- 
sees pretended to be very good, better than other 
Jews. They sometimes made long prayers and gave 
money for the Temple and the poor, not to please God, 
but to be seen of men who would call them good. 
They despised those who were not like themselves. 
Their thoughts and feelings were often wrong even 
when they appeared to be doing right. They were 
proud, unjust, selfish, covetous, deceitful. Christ 
often reproved them for their sins. They hated Him, 
and some of them helped to put Him to death. 

Yet among the Pharisees were some good men. 



Saul the Schoolboy 25 



One is known as Joseph of Arimathea ; another was 
Nicodemus. Saul's grandfather was a Pharisee: so 
was his father, who perhaps was a good man. He 
trained his son to be a little Pharisee who should be 
very strict in obeying the two kinds of laws of which 
we have spoken — those of God and those of men. 
The boy tried to be good, but not always in the right 
way. He thought himself righteous, but found at last 
that he was not so in the sight of God. He learned 
that if he would do good, he must be good — loving 
God and obeying Him because this is right. When 
we read his speeches and letters, we shall see what he 
thought of himself as a little Pharisee. 

When Jews moved from Palestine to other countries 
they worshiped God as they had done in their own 
country. They built synagogues in which to do it. 
So in Tarsus there were Jewish synagogues as well as 
Greek and Roman heathen temples. As Saul noticed 
the difference in the faces, dress and language of the 
people of different nations, he would think much more 
of the greater difference between his religion and 
theirs. We think of him as a worshiper of God in a 
heathen city. He was like the lily-of-the-valley, 
fragrant and white, growing among unpleasing and 
poisonous weeds. 

On the Taurus mountains were raised great flocks 
of goats whose long, beautiful hair was used in the 



26 



The Life of St Paul 



manufacture of various kinds of articles by many of 
the people of Tarsus. They braided it into ropes, and 
weaved it into tent-covers, and into garments espe- 
cially for sailors because of its being waterproof. 
Tentmaking was an honorable trade, though the tent- 
maker was poorly paid. Saul's father was such. He 
may have received money in other ways. We shall 
find reason to believe that he was not very poor. 

The father of every Jewish boy was taught by the 
Rabbis that it was his duty to teach his son a trade. 
This was wise, because then the son could do some- 
thing for a living, if, no longer supported by his 
father, he became poor. There was a Jewish prov- 
erb, "If a man does not teach his son a trade, he 
teaches him to steal." Another proverb was, "A 
man should not change his trade, nor that of his 
father." 

As we remember the young Jesus becoming a car- 
penter, we may think of Saul becoming a tentmaker, 
first watching his father's work, helping him as a boy 
could, and at last spinning, plaiting and weaving the 
goats' hair with those hands which he long after de- 
clared ministered to his necessities; helping him to 
obtain the things he needed. For the last twenty- 
nine years of his life, when not in prison or supported 
by Christians among whom he labored, he was Paul 
the Apostle and Paul the Tentmaker. 



Saul the Schoolboy 27 

Remembering the things of which we have spoken, 
we can picture the boyhood of Saul in Tarsus. So far 
as we know, he was the only, the beloved son, the joy 
of father, mother and sister. In that Jewish home, 
his red cap, and loose jacket of white and blue, his 
sash of different colors, would tell of his belonging to 
the same race as that of the boy Jesus, dressed in the 
same way at the same time in the land of the Jews. 
In the great, crowded, idolatrous capital of Cilicia, 
Saul increased in wisdom and stature as did Jesus in 
the lonely town of Nazareth, hidden among the Gali- 
lean hills where the true God only was worshiped. 
From the flat roof of his home, year after year, he 
gazed upon the Taurus range, stretching eastward and 
westward, whose loftiest peaks in the winter were 
white with snow on which the sun sparkled, and along 
which the shadows of the clouds played; but whose 
slopes in summer were clothed with a forest of green. 
The extended plain was divided by the swiftly flowing 
Cydnus, bordered by loftly palms which stood like 
sentinels over the gardens that showed the richness of 
the soil. Sometimes Saul would climb the ragged 
slopes like the mountain goats that gathered there; 
and follow the river, perhaps bathing in the icy waters 
which almost cost Alexander his life. A mile north 
of the city, he would visit the waterfall, especially 
when its grandeur was increased by the melting of 



28 



The Life of St Paul 



the mountain snows. At a la.ter day we seem to hear 
him sing, 

" Sweetly wild ! sweetly wild ! 
Were the scenes that charmed me when a child. 
Rocks — grey rocks, with their tracery dark, 
Leaping rills, like the diamond spark, 
Torrent voices thundering by. 

" It was sweet to sit till sunset laid down 
At the gate of the west his golden crown. 

Sweetly wild ! sweetly wild ! 
Were the scenes that charm'd me when a child." 

On the wharf he would watch the coming and 
going of the ships of different countries, to which he 
himself was to be carried through dangers and suffer- 
ings for Christ of which he then could not know; for 
it was 

" He who should carry far and wide, 
The banner of the Crucified." 

I Through all these boyhood years, we see him the 
earnest pupil, one of a circle of boys seated on the 
floor or ground, clad in their white cloaks, around the 
teacher of the grade he had reached. But there was 
one thing he would have us notice most of all about 
''his manner of life from his youth." To use his own 
words spoken when he became a good man it was 
this, "I was a Pharisee." 

Sometimes he would go to the gymnasium and 



Saul the Schoolboy 29 

watch the young men running, leaping, boxing and 
wrestling, striving for the olive or laurel wreath with 
which the victor was crowned. When we read his 
speeches and letters of many years after, we see how 
deep were the impressions these things made upon 
him. 



CHAPTER III 



Leaving Home for Jerusalem 

There is no doubt that Saul was a bright boy, a 
child of promise, a good scholar who might become a 
scribe able to teach the Jewish law and traditions to 
the people. At that time there was a great school 
called a university at Athens in Greece; another at 
Alexandria in Egypt; and another at Tarsus in Cilicia. 
But in none of them could Saul have the right kind of 
training for the work planned for him. He must go 
to a university in Jerusalem. That time had come. 
His school days in Tarsus were ended. We do not 
know exactly at what age this great change in his 
life was made. He must have been somewhere 
between ten and fourteen. That decision to have 
him make his first visit to the Holy Land must have 
filled him with all the enthusiasm of his boy na- 
ture. He would see the land of his fathers. He 
would visit the places of Jewish history, and live 
among people of his own nation. He would see the 
places whose names he had known with tender and 
increasing interest. Above all, the Holy City and its 
Holy House would become as familiar to him as Tar- 

30 



Leaving Home for Jerusalem 31 

sus and its humble synagogue. Jerusalem was a 
homeword to every Jew. In going thither, though 
from his home, he felt that he was going homeward. 
Yet on leaving such a home as we imagine his to have 
been, he must have had a mingled feeling of gladness 
and sadness. It was not easy to break the ties of a 
place where a joyous boyhood had been spent. No 
one in Jerusalem could take the place of father, mother 
and sister still living in Tarsus. In the story of his 
life, we shall find his heart very tender when parting 
with friends. 

We may suppose Saul's father went with him to 
the land of his fathers. If he had gone from there to 
Tarsus, he would be glad to revisit the scenes of his 
younger days. If, like his little son, he was making 
his first visit, they would alike rejoice in seeing for 
themselves the places with whose names and history 
they had become familiar in their distant home. 

The vessel sailed down the Cydnus, twelve miles to 
its mouth which widens into a lake or basin into the 
wider sea. We can imagine the young voyager tak- 
ing a farewell look at the city of his childhood. The 
familiar mountains fade from his view until only the 
snowy tops are seen. Trees, gardens, flowers, towns, 
and at last the shores of Cilicia disappear. He is upon 
the great sea, and with boyish excitement feels the 
swell of its waters. The first night is past, and for 



32 The Life of St Paul 

the first time he beholds the sun appearing to rise out 
of the waters, stretching as far as he can see in every 
direction with nothing else in sight but the sky, and 
the birds that have wandered far from their nests, and 
the fishes that leap for a moment above the waves. 

Perhaps a storm arises and he understands as he 
never had before what he had learned in the syna- 
gogue: "They that go down to the sea in ships, that 
do business in great waters; these see the works of 
the Lord, and His wonders in the deep. For He com- 
mandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, and lifteth up 
the waves thereof. He maketh the storm a calm, so 
that the waves thereof are still." 

We cannot follow Saul on this his first voyage as 
certainly as we can on his future journeys: but, from 
what we know of that time, and what nations 
were trading in the Mediterranean, and the ports 
for which they must have sailed, we can judge very 
nearly in what way he went. 

His voyage was nearly ended. Suddenly there ap- 
peared in the distance snow-covered peaks like those 
of the Taurus mountains. They were the heights of 
Lebanon. 

A nearer view revealed terrace above terrace, on 
which stood the flat roofed villages, in the midst of 
plantations of sugar cane, and groves of mulberry, 
orange and lemon trees. The travelers passed the 



Leaving Home for Jerusalem 33 



bold mountain of Carmel where Elijah boldly showed 
the God of the Jews to be the only living and true 
God. Twenty miles from it., nestled among the hills 
of Nazareth, was the Son of God, not yet revealed to 
the world. 

Saul's voyage ended at Caesarea. Before him was 
the land which the Lord told Moses beside the burn- 
ing bush was "a good land," and told Ezekiel was 
"the glory of all lands." Such every Jew thought it 
to be. So felt young Saul as he stepped from the 
vessel and trod for the first time the country in which 
he was to live and labor, suffer and rejoice. At last 
from an eminence he gains his first view of the Holy 
City; the Temple with its glittering roof, porticoes 
and columns; and the royal palace in which David 
and Solomon once lived. He enters the city called 
"the joy of the whole earth — the City of the Great 
King." He is permitted to say, "My feet stand 
within thy gates. O Jerusalem." How little he knows 
of what the years will bring to him therein. 

" Fair boy ! the wand'rings of thy way 
It is not mine to trace, 
Through buoyant youth's exulting day, 
Or manhood's bolder race. 

"What discipline thy heart may need, 
What clouds may veil thy sun, 
The eye of God alone can read ; 
And let His will be done." 



CHAPTER IV 



In the School of Gamaliel 

Jewish synagogues were often divided into two 
parts. One was for prayer and preaching and other 
forms of worship; the other part was for schools. In 
them learned men met to talk together about religious 
things, and to teach the young. 

In Jerusalem there were two schools higher than 
any others, called colleges or universities. The most 
celebrated was the School of Hillel, so named because 
founded by him, sixty years before Christ. It was for 
young students who expected to become Rabbis. 
They were not only taught, but also encouraged to 
take part in discussions with each other, and with 
their teachers, "both hearing them and asking them 
questions," as we are told Jesus did in the school in 
the Temple. 

The Scriptures which they studied were especially 
the five books of Moses, the Psalms, and the books of 
the Prophets through whom God told the people of 
things that would happen. He promised that Christ, 
whom the Jews called the Messiah, should come to be 
the Saviour of the world. So the Jews were watching 

34 



In the School of Gamaliel 35 

for His coming, but not in the way God intended. 
We know the Saviour to be a little child born in Beth- 
lehem. There were a few people more truly wise 
than the wisest Rabbis who were ready to believe that 
the child Jesus was the promised Messiah. One. of 
these named Simeon was probably a son of Hillel. 
He understood the Scriptures about the coming of 
Christ better than his father did. He lived to be an 
old man waiting to see the promised One. God had 
told him in some way that he should not die until that 
hour had come. It did come when Joseph and Mary 
brought the infant Jesus into the Temple. The old 
man, taking it up in his arms, "blessed God and said, 
Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace; 
for mine eyes have seen Thy Salvation "; by which he 
meant the promised Messiah. 

A very wise Rabbi, a son as is supposed of Simeon 
and so grandson of Hillel, became president of the 
college in Jerusalem which his grandfather had 
founded. Simeon must have told him of the infant 
Jesus in the Temple and of how God had revealed to 
him that this was the Messiah for whom all were 
looking; but the son probably thought it was an old 
man's fancy, and so did not believe the story. He 
trusted rather to his Rabbi-wisdom. This was sad in- 
deed, for if he had believed that Simeon had seen the 
Lord's Christ, and taught his pupils that their Messiah 



36 The Life of St Paul 

had come, he might have saved many of them from 
becoming the enemies of Jesus and plotters of His 
death. 

He is described in Acts (v. 34) as " a Pharisee named 
Gamaliel, a doctor of the law had in reputation 
among all the people." Though a zealous Pharisee, 
blinded to the greatest truths, he was somewhat like 
Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, who were better 
than he because they became the friends of Jesus. 
Gamaliel was "had in reputation" because he was 
wise, candid, honest, upright, amiable, kind and char- 
itable; and because he was the most learned man of 
his day, and the most noted teacher the Jews ever had. 
Among them he is still known as the " Great Rabbi." 
Because of his learning and character, he was so re- 
vered that he received the highest Jewish title, that of 
Rabban. He was one of the only seven to whom it 
was ever given. He was also called "the Beauty of 
the Law." We know not that any other had that 
honorable name. 

The most distinguished pupil of this most distin- 
guished teacher was Saul of Tarsus, who came under 
his instruction when probably thirteen years of age 
and remained with him many years. With honest 
pride he said he was " brought up at the feet of Ga- 
maliel," by which he meant that he had long been 
taught by this great teacher. The words "at the feet 



In the School of Gamaliel 37 

of Gamaliel " remind us of the position of the pupils 
as they encircled him. Gamaliel, with his long flow- 
ing robe of a Rabbi, surrounded by youths who ex- 
pected to become Rabbis, was a special object of in- 
terest in Jerusalem. There was no other school like 
it : in teacher, pupils and studies, it was the best of 
all. 

The course of study required the diligence and 
faithfulness of many years. Lessons in Hebrew and 
Greek and sometimes Latin were given, but the chief 
subject was the Jewish Law written on scrolls daily 
unrolled before them. The pupils were trained to 
commit large portions of Scripture. The teacher ex- 
plained the commandments which the Scripture 
taught; the traditions; the promises made to the good; 
the meaning of ceremonies, or certain things required 
in worship; the prophecies, or things that would hap- 
pen; and the types, or something to help to under- 
stand future things. 

As the teacher made these explanations, the bright 
boys would think of many things about which they 
asked questions, which the teacher was ever ready to 
answer. Much of the school exercise was a kind of 
conversation between teacher and pupils. 

In that group around Gamaliel were Barnabas and 
Saul, fellow-students in Tarsus, reunited in Jerusalem, 
in study, and in friendship which was yet longer to be 



38 The Life of St Paul 

continued closer than ever before. We may think of 
Saul as the brighter pupil, and the favorite of his de- 
lighted teacher. We know what he thought about 
the Scriptures. In one of his letters he called them the 
" oracles of God," and said that of all the good things 
that the Jews possessed these were the best.. Begin- 
ning at five years of age, he had made the Scriptures 
the great study of his life — in his home and in the 
synagogue, in the school in Tarsus, in the college in 
Jerusalem, and wherever he lived. He began to com- 
mit passages at an early age when this is most easily 
done. He had a marvelous memory, long remember- 
ing what he had learned. In his speeches in later life, 
he quoted from memory, showing how familiar he had 
become with the Word of God. Year after year 
while in the school of Gamaliel he " increased in wis- 
dom and stature," as did at the same time the boy in 
Nazareth whose wisdom was greater than that of 
Saul, He being taught, not by the wisest Rabbi, but 
by His Father the All-wise God. 



CHAPTER V 

The Young Pharisee and Rabbi 

There was a school of the Rabbis in the Temple in 
Jerusalem where any who chose could go and learn 
about the Old Testament Scriptures and the Jewish re- 
ligion. We suppose that Gamaliel was one of the 
teachers, and that his favorite pupil would follow him 
thither and attend to all the questions that were asked, 
and all the wise replies. Perhaps he would some- 
times ask questions himself, so wise that the doctors 
of the law would admire him, and make Gamaliel 
proud of his young pupil. 

It is possible that Saul was present on a certain day 
when there came into that school another boy about 
his own age, who astonished the Rabbis even more 
than Saul had done. It was that boy's first and only 
visit unless He had been there the day before. He 
came alone. Modestly, reverently, solemnly, atten- 
tively, earnestly, silently He sat. For a little while He 
was "hearing them," listening to the only kind of 
teaching they gave; but He was not satisfied: He had 
other and deeper thoughts. At last He broke His si- 
lence and began "asking them questions." We wish 

39 



40 The Life of St Paul 

we knew what was the first and the rest. They re- 
plied, and He made answer, and "all that heard Him 
were astonished at His understanding." Saul had 
heard no such discussion in the Temple school or in 
that of Gamaliel. Perhaps it was about the Messiah 
of whom they were studying, and for whose coming- 
he was looking. He little thought the expected One 
had come, and that he beheld Him at the very time 
when Jesus was probably discovering Himself to be 
the Messiah. 

It is possible that then and there the eyes of Jesus 
and of Saul met, and that the young pupil of Gamaliel 
listened with tender interest to the voice which one 
day he would hear calling his own name from the 
skies. Between those two events how many and 
what great things were to happen to them both. 

At the time of that meeting in the Temple school, 
there were other boys in Palestine of about the same 
age as Saul, of whom he did not know. John, after- 
ward the Baptist, was in Hebron; Peter and Andrew, 
James and John were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. 
Saul was to know them as apostles of Jesus Who 
would call him to be greater than any one of them. 

During all this time Saul the young Pharisee in 
Jerusalem, was careful of his outward conduct, and 
tried hard to obey the traditions which men had added 
to the laws of God. In so doing, we may think of 



The Young Pharisee and Rabbi 41 

him as being very careful of the exact size of the piece 
of parchment he wore, and of the number of the lines 
of text upon it, and of the form of the letters, and of 
the shape of the box that held the text, and just how it 
should be fastened on his forehead or his arm where 
men could see it and think him very holy. We call 
this foolish, and know God did not require such things 
of him, but he had been trained differently from us, 
and thought it was right and pleasing to God and 
would make him happy. Long after his school days 
were ended he said, not boastingly, " I advanced in the 
Jewish religion beyond many of my own age in my 
race, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions 
of my fathers." 

God's laws are like the good fruit on a tree; tra- 
ditions are like false fruit made by man to look like the 
real, and hung upon the branches. The one can satisfy 
hunger: the other cannot. Obedience to God's laws 
can give happiness; obedience to traditions cannot. 
Paul tried hard to study and obey the laws his fathers 
had made; but this did not give him the happiness he 
sought. We shall see how he learned and taught " a 
more excellent way." 

He had already received the title of Rab, the first 
given to a student of Jewish law, and now receives 
the higher one of Rabbi with his diploma from the 
University of Jerusalem which would make him wel- 



4 2 



The Life of St Paul 



come to any synagogue in any land. He has fulfilled 
the highest hopes of his father in sending him' to 
Jerusalem. He may rise to the highest place in the 
nation. He is fitted to be a scribe or lawyer explain- 
ing the Jewish Law and traditions, and pleading in the 
Jewish courts. May he not like Gamaliel to be called 
Rabban, and so there be eight instead of seven to 
receive the highest title given only to the most learned 
men. Perhaps he would have received it, had he not 
sought the honor which cometh from God only. 

His university life is ended. He is proud of his 
success. He thinks of himself as wiser and better 
than his companions. Full of ambition and ardor he 
is determined to do great things for his nation and 
their religion. Men call him learned and good. He is 
looked upon as a perfect example. Active, bold, 
eloquent, he is probably the most promising young 
man in Jerusalem or among all his people. They may 
well ask, "Will he not become the pride of our nation, 
and help to deliver us from the Roman power? " 

But their thoughts and his concerning him are to be 
greatly changed. He is now boasting of things of 
which he will be ashamed. Truth which he now 
rejects, he will some day preach as the word of God. 
There is a people whom he now despises and per- 
secutes, but who will become his choicest friends and 
for whom he will willingly suffer. There is One whom 



The Young Pharisee and Rabbi 43 

he now ardently hates, but whom he will love su- 
premely and serve faithfully, and for whom he will 
willingly die. But that future is hidden from him and 
all who know him: he is "a chosen vessel" — one 
through whom God will do great things, but not of 
the kind which now fills the heart and mind of Saul. 

As Saul leaves the university, it is with grateful 
memories of Gamaliel, whom he honored even when 
he had rejected the false teachings of his master; for 
the pupil became more truly wise than the wisest 
Rabbi. When the great teacher died one of his pupils, 
Onkelos by name, in love and gratitude built a splendid 
and costly monument to his memory, such as nations 
build for their kings. For this deed and his writings, 
he is remembered. But Saul is remembered because 
of nobler deeds for which he was fitting himself, 
though he knew it not, while he 4 'sat at the feet of 
Gamaliel." 

We do not know in what year Saul finished his 
education in Jerusalem, begun when he was probably 
thirteen years of age. He had become a young Rabbi. 
It is supposed that he returned to his early home in 
Tarsus. 



CHAPTER VI 



Christ and Early Christianity 

The years when Saul was absent from Jerusalem 
were the most wonderful in the history of the world. 
On the banks of the Jordan, John the Baptist pro- 
claimed to a multitude that the Messiah had come. 
Jesus suddenly appeared before him to be baptized. 
He gathered about Him a company of apostles trained 
for His service, and to whom He would entrust the 
establishment of His Church on the earth. He was 
the Great Teacher. No man ever spake as He did. 
He declared only the truth of God. In the Temple in 
Jerusalem, on the seashore, and on the mountains of 
Galilee, gracious words proceeded out of His mouth — 
words of invitation and comfort; also words of warn- 
ing and woe to those who repented not, but continued 
in sin. He perfectly obeyed the law of God, rejecting 
the traditions of men. He was the only perfect ex- 
ample for men to follow. 

He showed His Divine power by the miracles He 
wrought, both on things and men, commanding the 
winds and waves, walking on the sea, healing sick- 
nesses, giving sight to the blind and hearing to the 

44 



Christ and Early Christianity 45 

deaf, and strength to the palsied, and even restoring 
the dead to life. 

Many believed His words and in Him as their Sav- 
iour, and were united to Him in closest friendship. 
Many more believed Him not, but rejected His teach- 
ings and salvation through Him. Bitter enemies re- 
viled Him, saying all manner of evil against Him, and 
sought His life. Among them were Priests and Rab- 
bis and the most powerful men of the nation. 
Though innocent, he was charged with great crimes, 
arrested, unjustly tried, and condemned to a shameful 
death on the cross. 

When Jesus was crucified, His life on earth seemed 
to be a failure. His friends, even His disciples were 
disappointed and sad: His enemies rejoiced. But on 
the third day, He rose again. On a mountain in Gali- 
lee where He had told them to meet Him, their hopes 
revived. "'When they saw Him, they worshiped 
Him " as the God and Saviour they thought Him to be 
before His death. Five hundred true friends were 
gathered there. They had seen the power of His 
enemies in Jerusalem, and also how powerless had be- 
come the attempts to destroy Him and His work by 
putting Him to death. He said to them, "All power 
is given to me in heaven and in earth." And because 
of His power, He gave them this command, "Go ye, 
therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the 



4 6 



The Life of St Paul 



name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatso- 
ever I have commanded you"; and then He added this 
promise, " Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the 
end of the world." 

But this was not the farewell meeting of Jesus with 
His apostles and friends. That was in Jerusalem 
where He told them to stay until the Holy Spirit 
should come into their hearts. There He said, "Ye 
shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem and in 
all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts 
of the earth." "And He led them out as far as to 
Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed 
them. And it came to pass that while He blessed 
them He was parted from them and carried up into 
heaven. And a cloud received Him out of their 
sight." 

By the Gospel we mean the good news of salvation 
through Christ. As He commanded, it was first 
preached in Jerusalem. For a time, the only church 
was there, numbering at first only one hundred and 
twenty persons, but very soon increasing to five thou- 
sand. They had no church building, but went from 
house to house for prayer and study of the Scriptures, 
and communing together about their once dead but 
risen Lord. Their affection for Him was so great that 
they loved one another and were called Brethren. 



Christ and Early Christianity 47 

The name Christian was not yet given to them. They 
still attended the Temple worship and the Jewish fes- 
tivals. In many things which were right they did as 
other Jews. They were careful in their conduct, try- 
ing to do as Christ would have them do, so that none 
could justly speak against their new religion. Their 
love for Christ made them different from the people 
about them, making their lives more lovely, their 
friendships closer, and their happiness more complete. 

But they were considered a strange kind of people, 
believing things which others did not, and explaining 
the Scriptures differently from what the Rabbis did. 
Strangest of all they believed that Jesus, who had been 
shamefully crucified as "a malefactor," was the Mes- 
siah for whom the Jews had been looking, and that 
He had risen from the dead. 

Fifty days after the crucifixion of Christ, and ten 
days after His ascension, there was the first great 
gathering of Jews into the Christian Church. Many 
had come from different countries to attend the Feast 
of Pentecost in Jerusalem. There were pilgrims from 
the Tigris and the Euphrates in the far East, the Nile 
in Egypt, the Tiber in Italy, from provinces of Asia 
Minor, the deserts of Arabia, and the islands of 
Greece. 

"They were all with one accord in one place." 
The Holy Spirit promised by Christ, for whom they 



48 



The Life of St Paul 



had been waiting, came "and they were all filled with 
the Holy Ghost." Peter preached a wonderful sermon 
proving that "Jesus of Nazareth was Christ the Lord." 
Three thousand people believed His words, repented 
of their sins and were baptized. 




The Stoning of St. Stephen Gustave Dorl 



CHAPTER VII 



St* Stephen, the First Christian Martyr 

The early Christians cared for those of their number 
in need. The richer gave to the poor. Seven deacons 
were appointed to take charge of the money, and 
especially to look after a fund for widows. The chief 
deacon was named Stephen. It is said that he was 
very beautiful. Better than that, he had learning and 
eloquence. Best of all, he was a devout man, ''full 
of faith and the Holy Ghost." Because he had these, 
by God's help, he "did great wonders and miracles 
among the people." Day after day he went from 
synagogue to synagogue, preaching about Jesus the 
Messiah, the crucified but risen Saviour. He claimed 
that we must be saved by repentance and faith in 
Him; and not in the hard way by which we have 
seen Saul and the other Pharisees trying to be saved. 

One of the places where Stephen used to speak was 
the "synagogue of them of Cilicia," where people 
from that country were accustomed to worship. We 
are told that "there arose certain of the synagogue 
disputing with Stephen." The chief questions about 
which they disputed were three — Was Jesus the Mes- 

49 



50 The Life of St Paul 

siah ? Why did He die ? Did He rise from the dead ? 
As Saul was from Tarsus, he would worship with his 
countrymen in the synagogue of Cilicia; and, as he 
was probably the most learned of the Rabbis in it, he 
would be again and again the chief disputer with 
Stephen. But "they were not able to resist the wis- 
dom and spirit by which he spake." His holy zeal for 
Christ only increased the madness against him. They 
determined that his voice should no longer be heard in 
that synagogue or any other; it should be silenced in 
death. 

He was dragged before the Sanhedrin, the highest 
Jewish court. False witnesses said, " We have heard 
him speak blasphemous words against Moses and 
against God." Such witnesses had said such things 
against Jesus when He was unjustly tried before Pilate. 

Stephen calmly looked into the enraged faces of his 
enemies. His appearance was a great contrast to 
theirs. " All that sat in the council, looking steadfastly 
on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an 
angel." He made a charge against them, not in anger 
but in faithfulness, awful because true— that they had 
been the betrayers and murderers of their Messiah. 
This enraged them yet more. ''When they heard 
these things they were cut to the heart, and they 
gnashed on him with their teeth," like wild beasts 
rather than men. 



St Stephen, the First Christian Martyr 51 

But the holy man turned his eyes away from them. 
"Being full of the Holy Ghost, he looked up into 
heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing 
on the right hand of God." Continuing his gaze, 
seemingly unconscious of the strange and far different 
scene about him, not heeding the voices of malice and 
rage, he exclaimed with ecstasy of delight, "Behold I 
see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing on 
the right hand of God." One of the early fathers 
notes that word "standing," as if the Son of Man, 
crucified then glorified, "rose from His glorious 
throne, to welcome His first apostle and martyr." 

After an absence of several years from Jerusalem, 
Saul returned soon after the death of Jesus. We may 
think of him as present in the Sanhedrin even if not 
yet a member, and so not qualified to give his vote 
against Stephen. But while "they cried out with a 
loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him 
with one accord, and cast him out of the city," "Saul 
was consenting unto his death." 

It was a mixed multitude that went with Stephen as 
he was led from the Council Hall, adjoining the Holy 
House, to the spot made sacred by their unholy deed. 
There were Priests and Scribes, exciting by words and 
actions the passions of the rabble ready to do their 
bidding. Following them were Christian disciples, 
faithful to their leader as were the women who fol- 



The Life of St Paul 



lowed Jesus to His cross. Passing through the eastern 
gate of Jerusalem, to this day called St. Stephen's in 
precious memory of him, they entered the valley of 
Jehoshaphat. Did not Stephen glance across to the 
slope of Olivet, to the garden of Gethsemane, and in 
remembrance of the agonies of his Lord say, "Thy 
will be done." Of Jesus it is said, in that hour of His 
agony, "there appeared an angel strengthening Him." 
Did not Stephen also receive strength from Him who 
is greater than angel or archangel, for whom he had 
been a faithful witness, and who had an hour before 
appeared to him in a vision of glory ? 

"They stoned Stephen." Such is the brief and 
simple record, leaving our imagination to supply the 
horrible details. Those who performed the awful 
deed were determined to do thorough and earnest 
work. For it they laid aside their loose upper gar- 
ments that their arms might be free in casting the fatal 
stones. They had been false witnesses in the Sanhe- 
drin, and were now adding murder to their lying tes- 
timony given to secure Stephen's death. 

"The witnesses laid down their clothes at a young 
man's feet whose name was Saul." Could they not 
trust the rabble that followed them ? Were they 
afraid of theft while engaged in murder? Were there 
many colored robes of more value than the blood- 
stained form at which they cast stone after stone ? 



St Stephen, the First Christian Martyr 53 

Yet there was one whom they could trust as guar- 
dian of their robes. This is our first distinct view of 
Saul. In following him thus far, we have had to de- 
pend on what we know of the times when and the 
places where he lived, and on what was said of him 
in after years. As he stood by the pile of garments 
watching them, and much more the martyr a little dis- 
tance from him, we wonder what were his thoughts 
and feelings. Had he no pity ? If so, there was a 
deeper sense of satisfaction in what he and the others 
were doing to destroy as he hoped the religion of the 
despised Nazarene. 

Stephen uttered two short prayers. The first was 
for himself. It is possible that he had heard the dying 
words of Christ — "Father, into Thy hands I commend 
My spirit." And now with like trust he cries, " Lord 
Jesus, receive my spirit." Stephen remembered the 
agonies of the cross as he felt the tortures of the 
stones. He remembered the voice of prayer that rose 
above the sound of the crucifiers' hammer, "Father 
forgive them." Above the rabble shout, in the same 
spirit of Christ, rose Stephen's prayer for his murder- 
ers, " Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." 

" With such a Friend and Witness near, 
No form of death could make him fear; 
Calm amid showers of stones he kneels, 
And only for his murderers feels." 



54 



The Life of St Paul 



With this forgiving prayer, " he fell asleep." For one 
at least of his enemies that prayer was answered, but 
not as soon as the dying thief had the blessed assur- 
ance of living with Christ, for Saul was not yet ready 
to cry to Him, "Lord, remember me." 

Saul never could forget that scene, the looks, words, 
spirit, vision, peace, calmness, love, prayer, forgive- 
ness, of him in whose death he had a share. Years 
after, in the Temple, almost on the spot where Stephen 
had a vision of Jesus, he also had a vision in which 
with shame and sorrow he confessed, "When the 
blood of Thy martyr Stephen was shed, I also was 
standing by, and consenting unto his death, and kept 
the raiment of them that slew him." 

When John the Baptist was beheaded, "his dis- 
ciples came and took up the body and buried it, and 
went and told Jesus." To whom else could his dis- 
ciples go when "devout men carried Stephen to his 
burial, and made great lamentation over him " ? 
Though comforted by that name, another was full of 
terror in every Christian home in Jerusalem. It was 
that of Saul the Persecutor. 



CHAPTER VIII 



Saul the Persecutor 

For a while after the Pentecost, the followers of 
Christ were allowed to worship Him and preach the 
Gospel without harm. But as their numbers increased, 
opposition grew. The Sadducees had the greatest in- 
fluence in the Jewish nation. The high priest was 
one of them. They denied and hated the doctrine of 
the Resurrection which the Christians believed and 
taught, and so hated them. The death of Stephen was 
followed by a most violent persecution. 

Saul's zeal in the martyrdom of Stephen made him 
a hero in the minds of the Pharisees and Sadducees. 
They were ready to give him more honor than he had 
yet received, even the greatest they could bestow. 
He was made a member of the Sanhedrin, probably as 
a Scribe. He gave his vote against Christians falsely 
charged with wrongdoing. A great work was given 
him to do in trying to destroy the Christian Church. 
He was ready to do it. Strange as it seems to us, 
and as it did to him afterward, he had an honest but 
mistaken feeling that this was pleasing to God. He 
declared, "1 verily thought with myself that I ought 

55 



The Life of St Paul 



to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of 
Nazareth." Believing that Jesus was not the Messiah, 
he thought that faith in Him and belief in His Resur- 
rection, were displeasing to God. He thought that in 
opposing the teachings of Christians and in persecut- 
ing them, he could make up what was lacking in his 
obedience to the law of God and Jewish traditions, and 
so gain the happiness he had vainly sought all his life. 

After the death of Stephen, Saul was more zealous 
than before in the persecution of Christians in Jerusa- 
lem. He went from house to house, full of rage and 
cruelty, carrying sorrow into once happy homes. He 
tried to make the friends of Jesus revile His name and 
deny that they were His friends. They refused to 
obey him. He dragged them from their homes in 
chains, separating parents from their children. He 
whipped and scourged them, tortured them in many 
ways, persecuting them even unto death. He had no 
pity on the old or the infirm; he was exceedingly 
cruel even to feeble and helpless women. Perhaps 
some of them were the faithful, loving "daughters of 
Jerusalem " who had followed Jesus when bearing His 
cross, to whom He said, thinking of this coming time, 
"Weep not for Me; but weep for yourselves and 
your children." 

No enemy was so feared by Christians as this young 
Rabbi. Distant towns and cities heard of his awful 



Saul the Persecutor 57 

deeds. In Damascus it became known "how much 
evil he had done to the saints of God at Jerusalem." 

We remember — what he did not know — that the 
time was to come when he also would endure stoning, 
scourging, imprisonment, and even death for being one 
of "the saints of God." 

Just before Christ's ascension, He told His disciples 
that they should be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea 
and Samaria. This became true after the death of 
Stephen, but in a way they did not suspect. It is 
written in the Acts: " At that time there was a great 
persecution against the Church which was in Jerusa- 
lem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout 
the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles." 
"They that were scattered abroad went everywhere 
preaching the word." 

This work of the Christians was very displeasing to 
Saul. " Being exceedingly mad against them, he per- 
secuted them even to strange cities." One of these 
was Damascus, the capital of Syria, to which Chris- 
tians had fled and where they were persuading men to 
become the followers of Jesus. 

A few months after Stephen's death, Saul, not satis- 
fied with the persecution of Jerusalem Christians, 
asked of Theophilus, the powerful high priest, letters 
to the synagogues in Damascus, giving him power, if 
he found any Christians there, to seize, bind and bring 



58 



The Life of St Paul 



them to Jerusalem. He had no right to ask such per- 
mit, nor had the high priest any right to grant it, but 
he did. 

Damascus, which claims to be the oldest city in the 
world, was the capital of Syria, about one hundred 
and fifty miles north of Jerusalem. The journey be- 
tween the two cities required six or eight days, over 
mountains, plains and deserts. Unlike the humble 
band of Jesus and His disciples traveling on foot, Saul 
went in great pomp. His attendants treated their 
Rabbi with great respect. They were of like spirit 
with himself, and were ready to obey his most cruel 
bidding. 

Let us follow him and the way he probably jour- 
neyed. His road first wound through a mountainous 
region. At " Gibea of Saul " he would recall the king 
whose name he bore. He passed through a rocky 
country on whose terraces were fields of grain and 
gardens of melons and cucumbers with which the 
cavalcade could refresh themselves. He passed 
through many scenes of sacred story, but his thoughts 
were on the future, not the past. At Bethel, he pos- 
sibly spent the night where Jacob did seventeen hun- 
dred years before. What dreams should have haunted 
him there. He had no bright vision of angels: he 
heard no voice of God saying, "I am with thee to 
keep thee whither thou goest." At Shiloh, he would 



Saul the Persecutor 59 



be reminded of the priestly boy Samuel ready to obey 
the call of the Lord. 

Crossing the hills of Samaria, he caught glimpses of 
the Mediterranean sea, over which he had sailed from 
his early home, and which in later life would bear him 
to its bordering countries to establish the religion he 
was now trying to destroy. 

Entering the beautiful vale of Sychar between the 
twin mountains of Ebal and Gerizim, he would refresh 
himself at the well at which his father Jacob drank. 
What words had been spoken there. "I know that 
Messias cometh," said the woman of Samaria. "I am 
He," said the weary, thirsty stranger. Had Saul met 
her at the well as was possible, and believed her tes- 
timony, he would have returned to Jerusalem without 
completing his errand. 

As he gazed at the neighboring tomb of Joseph, did 
he receive an impression which was yet fresh when he 
wrote to the Hebrews, "By faith Joseph gave com- 
mandment concerning his bones" — that they should be 
buried here. Entering Galilee, he would gain his 
first view of Mount Hermon, the tower of " Lebanon 
that looketh toward Damascus." From a lofty range, 
he could look down upon the Sea of Galilee; but, 
while admiring its beauties, he had no precious mem- 
ories of Him who made it the most sacred of waters. 
Nor cared he then for a sight of the mountain where 



60 The Life of St Paul 

Christ commanded, "Go ye and teach all nations "—- 
the command which Saul was yet most faithfully to 
obey. 

Crossing the Jordan, then the barren uplands, there 
stretched before him a vast plain, dry and sterile in 
the burning sun. 

As Saul journeyed day after day, in the cool, early 
dawn or in the brilliant starlight of the clear eastern 
sky, he had abundant leisure for reflection. His 
thoughts must have been busy concerning himself 
and the despised Nazarenes whom he persecuted, and 
the Messiah in whom they believed. He must have 
thought that they had a kind of peace which he had 
not, though he had sought it through many years. 
Was he quite sure that in going to Damascus he was 
on God's errand ? "That face of Stephen that he had 
seen bathed as with a light from heaven, until it had 
been dimmed in blood, must have haunted him, as we 
know it did for long years afterward." Could he for- 
get Stephen's prayer for murderers ? Did he not 
begin to feel, if he had never felt before, that in fight- 
ing against Christians possibly he was fighting against 
God ? Was he quite sure after all that Jesus was not 
the Messiah? Did not his very doubts increase his 
madness ? Was he not vainly striving to check the 
promptings of his conscience ? We shall find oc- 
casion for so believing. 



CHAPTER IX 



The Vision of Jesus — The Changed Life 

The tedious journey is nearly ended. The weary 
company will soon exchange the treeless, bleak and 
glaring desert for the shady avenues of palm, orange 
and citron groves; the barren sands for gardens where 
grow flowers of endless varieties and the damask 
rose yields its sweetest perfume; where the fainting 
travelers can feast themselves in the groves on luscious 
fruit, and cool their heated brows in natural and arti- 
ficial streams; and where the lively song of birds takes 
the place of the deathlike silence of the desert. 

But all this does not calm the raging spirit of the 
cavalcade. 

" The leader of that martial crew, 
Seems bent on some mighty deed to do, 

So steadily he speeds ; 
With lips firm closed and fixed eye, 
Like warrior when the fight is nigh, 

So steadily he speeds." 

At last they reach the place of the modern village of 
Kaukab, meaning brightness, so called in remembrance 
of a brighter light that nineteen hundred years ago 

61 



62 



The Life of St Paul 



gleamed above and around it. Here bursts upon them 
that beautiful view which more than any other has 
been called throughout the ages a " Paradise of God." 
The Abana and the Pharpar known in Scripture as 
''streams from Lebanon," and "rivers of Damascus," 
which Naaman called "better than all the waters of 
Israel," make the wilderness blossom as the rose. 

The green foliage of olive, walnut, pomegranate and 
palm, is a magnificent setting for the roofs that rise in 
terraces among them, and the cupolas that glitter over 
all. "A handful of pearls in its goblet of emeralds," 
fittingly describes the city which Saul with his com- 
pany is approaching. 

It is said of an Arab prince that on first beholding it 
he would go no further, and on the spot erected a 
monument with this inscription: "I expect to enter 
one Paradise, but if I enter this city I should be so 
ravished with its beauties as to lose sight of the Para- 
dise which I hope to enter." 

" The midday sun, with fiercest glare, 
Broods o'er the hazy, twinkling air, 

Along the level sand. 
The palm-trees' shade unwavering lies, 
Just as thy towers, Damascus, rise 
To greet yon wearied band." 

Unlike other travelers who seek khan or tent for 
shelter from the Syrian sun at high noon, Saul with 




Saul's Conversion 



Gustave Dork 



The Vision of Jesus— The Changed Life 63 



impatient haste passed on, caring not for the fierce 
and quivering air and the glare from the earth. Sud- 
denly "there lightened a great light." The whole 
atmosphere was ablaze. The whole company fell to 
the ground in terror or stood in amazement and fear; 
the scene was one of confusion and alarm. When 
the others were partially recovered, Saul, for whom it 
was all intended, still lay prostrate on the earth. 

Saul had a vision hidden from his companions. 
There was a voice meaningless to them, saying, " Saul, 
Saul, why persecutest thou Me ?" It was like that of 
a man, whom he respectfully addressed as " Lord," or 
"Sir," asking, "Who art Thou?" It was the Lord 
in a different sense who answered, "I am Jesus of 
Nazareth whom thou persecutest." Saul had often 
heard and spoken that name with contempt. Why 
did Jesus use it now ? Why did He not say, as St. 
Chrysostom asks, "I am the Son of God; the Word 
that was from the beginning; He that sitteth at the 
right hand of the Father; He Who is in the form of i 
God; He Who stretched out the heavens; He Who 
made the earth; He Who leveled the sea; He Who 
created the angels; He Who is everywhere and filleth 
all things." 

Had Jesus said these things of Himself, Saul would 
not have thought of Him as the one he was persecut- 
ing; but when He called Himself Jesus of Nazareth 



6 4 



The Life of St. Paul 



Saul understood who and what He was. It is as if 
He had said: "I am the expected Messiah. I came 
to Earth, lived, died and rose again, and ascended to 
heaven. So truly believe the Christians whom you 
persecute. In so doing, you persecute Me. With 
your troubled conscience you are finding this hard to 
do. From this hour do thyself no harm by opposing 
Me and Mine." As Peter's heart melted under the 
earthly glance of his Lord, so did Saul's under the 
heavenly. The Lord said unto him, "Arise and go 
into Damascus." That is just what he had intended 
to do. His commission to destroy Christians was yet 
in his Rabbinic robe. But his mission was changed— 
to what he did not know. 

He had fallen from his horse a proud Pharisee: he 
rose an humble Christian. The strong man had be- 
come as a little child. The chief persecutor of the Naz- 
arenes was to become their boldest defender. He had 
seen the Lord Jesus as truly as any of the apostles, and 
was fitted to become His chief apostle. The line that 
divided his journey to Damascus was the dividing line 
of his life. That moment on the ground was one to 
which he never looked forward as possible; but it was 
the one to which he ever after looked backward with 
gratitude and praise. 

The brilliancy of Saul's vision had made him blind. 
This his companions discovered as soon as he rose. 



The Vision of Jesus — The Changed Life 65 

They led the riderless horse which he could no longer 
guide. He who planned to lead men and women 
bound to Jerusalem was now led blind to Damascus. 
Those whom Saul would have made his victims were 
probably the best prepared of any in the Paradise below 
to hear their Lord say, ''To-day shalt thou be with Me 
in the Paradise above." But that day had not yet 
come, for the crucified Lord had arrested the execu- 
tioner's arm that would have hastened them thither. 

Damascus is a walled city. One of its gates is called 
St. Paul's, in memory of his entering it ; as that of St. 
Stephen, out of which Saul passed with him, helps to 
keep the first martyr in everlasting remembrance. 
From St. Paul's gate, extending through the city, a 
mile in length, was and still is a street called " Straight." 
In it was the house of a man named Judas, which may 
be the same as that pointed out to the traveler to-day. 

There Saul for three memorable days sits in silence, 
in darkness, alone, helpless and friendless. He has 
even more leisure for meditation than on his journey. 
He reviews his life. He sees what mistakes he has 
made and what great wrongs he has done. He once 
thought of his own goodness: he now thinks of God's 
love. Jesus has given him the peace which he once 
thought he could purchase by being a strict Pharisee. 
He thinks of his future. What shall it be? It is as 
completely hidden from him as is the world to his 



66 



The Life of St Paul 



sightless eyes. For these three days and nights, his 
bodily sufferings are so great, his thoughts so busy, 
and his feelings so deep, that he can neither eat nor 
drink. Oh for companionship and help! To whom 
shall he look ? To the same Jesus of Nazareth who 
appeared to him in the way. As a Pharisee, he had 
long used the words and forms of prayer, but now he 
has the spirit of the Publican. His prayer is answered, 
and before the three days are ended he knows the great 
plan of his life's work, and something of what he is to 
be, to do, and to suffer. God gives him a peaceful 
vision in which he sees one of those whom he had 
come to destroy, coming to him with comfort and help. 
"Not Peter, or James, or John, no great and eminent 
apostle need be sent for, to instruct the learned and 
highly talented Saul; but Ananias, some poor, simple- 
hearted Christian, of whom the Divine Word has never 
before made mention, is fully sufficient, in God's hand, 
to teach this most richly endowed of all the early con- 
verts." 

To Ananias the Lord also appeared in a vision, 
bidding him go to Saul of Tarsus, adding as a reason, 
"Behold he prayeth." Even this assurance hardly 
overcame the fears of Ananias who knew the evil Saul 
had done in Jerusalem, and for what purpose he had 
come to Damascus. " But the Lord said unto him, Go 
thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto Me." "And 



The Vision of Jesus — The Changed Life 67 



Ananias went his way, and entered into the house, and 
putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord 
even Jesus hath sent me." This was the first Christian 
greeting to him who was to give and send so many 
such to others. Ananias laid his hands on him, bidding 
him rise with returning sight, and be filled with the 
Holy Ghost, and be baptized. And so Saul the perse- 
cutor was received into the Church of Christ; to whom 
we hear him saying in amazement and joy, 

" And can I be the very same 
Who lately durst blaspheme Thy name, 

And on Thy Gospel tread ? 
Surely each one who hears my case, 
Will praise Thee, and confess Thy grace, 
Invincible indeed ! " 



CHAPTER X 



The Lone Fugitive in Arabia — The Return to 
Damascus and Jerusalem 

Saul had now no use for the commission from 
Theophilus, the false high priest on earth, to destroy 
the bodies of men; for he had a glorious one from 
Jesus Himself, the Great High Priest in Heaven, to save 
the souls of men. 

We may imagine him spending a few days with 
Ananias and a few others who rejoiced in his conver- 
sion, talking together of their Lord and of His appear- 
ance to the new disciple. We are told that "Straight- 
way he preached Christ in the synagogues that He is 
the Son of God" — the same synagogues for which he 
had started with evil intent. Jewish hatred was at 
once excited. There was danger of his own arrest, 
perhaps by the very men whom he had brought, and 
who now called him a traitor to the religion he had 
professed, and to the high priest who had sent him to 
Damascus. 

So it was wise for him to leave the city. Besides he 
was not yet ready for his great work. He had sat at 
the feet of Gamaliel to fit himself to be a teacher of 

68 



The Lone Fugitive in Arabia. 69 

Jewish law; but he needed much more the Great, the 
Divine Teacher to fit him for the mission of the Apostle 
which he was to become. Jesus, after His baptism 
and before beginning His ministry, " returned from 
Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the Wilderness." 
Saul, in like manner, after his baptism and before be- 
ginning his ministry, sought solitude where he could 
be alone with God, pray to Him and be taught by His 
Spirit. He went into Arabia, among the mountains by 
the Red Sea. It was where Moses "came to the 
mountain of God," and communed with Him. 

Would not Saul here recall the speech of Stephen 
which he had heard in the Cilician synagogue, in 
Jerusalem, in which the martyr spoke of the Leader 
and Lawgiver of Israel being in this very region fif- 
teen hundred years before? There " the Angel of the 
Lord" — the Lord Himself — "appeared unto Moses in 
a flame of fire." So had Saul seen Him in "a great 
light from heaven." Out of the one the Lord had 
called, "Moses, Moses"; out of the other, "Saul, 
Saul." There came a voice from the one saying, "I 
am the God"; and from the other, "I am Jesus of 
Nazareth." Moses hid his face and was afraid: Saul fell 
to the earth trembling and astonished. The Lord spake 
to Moses of the persecution of His people in Egypt; and 
to Saul of that in Jerusalem and elsewhere by himself. 
To Moses the Lord gave a command saying, "Come 



70 The Life of St Paul 

now, and I will send thee to Pharaoh." To Saul He 
gave another, to "bear His name before kings." As 
Saul mused on these things, he must have heard the 
echo of the voice uttered long before, "The place 
whereon thou standest is holy ground." Nor would 
Saul forget Elijah who in despair, had fled to the 
same spot six hundred years before. Would he not 
seek the cave at whose entering Elijah had stood with 
his face wrapped in his mantle, listening to the "still 
small voice" of God who at last commanded him, 
"Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damas- 
cus," from which Saul had also come. 

What a meeting at Horeb that would have been of 
the lawgiver, the prophet and the apostle, as they talked 
together of Him Whom two of them had met on the 
Mount of Transfiguration, almost under the shadow of 
which the third had seen and heard the Lord of them 
all. 

It is uncertain how long Saul remained in Arabia. 
It must have been not less than one year, nor more 
than three years. His own simple statement is, "I 
went into Arabia and returned again unto Damascus." 

Saul's return to Damascus has been called the be- 
ginning of a long martyrdom. We do not know the 
length of his stay there; it was probably three years or 
less. He attempted to build up what he had at first 
come to destroy. As the Jews in the synagogue of 



The Lone Fugitive in Arabia, 71 

Jerusalem when they heard Stephen, " could not resist 
the power and wisdom with which he spake," so was 
it with those who heard Saul in the synagogues in 
Damascus. As the one determined to put Stephen to 
death, the other planned to kill Saul. The rulers of 
Damascus befriended his Jewish enemies and gave to 
them a permit for his arrest, even as the high priest in 
Jerusalem had given him such for the arrest of Chris- 
tians in Damascus. 

The city walls were high, and guarded by soldiers 
at the gates and other places where they thought there 
was danger of his escape. Besides them there were 
Jewish watchers by day and night. But there was 
guarding him One who often "maketh the devices of 
the people of none effect." Against the wall there 
was a Christian home having a projecting window 
from which Saul was let down in a basket by a rope. 
In the darkness his fugitive journey began toward 
Jerusalem. It was a strange contrast to that from the 
Holy City a few years before. 

As Saul approached Jerusalem, and remembered how 
many and great things had happened to him since he 
had left it, his thoughts must have been busy, and his 
feelings most intense. Coming near the spot where 
he had seen the mangled form of Stephen, he could 
almost hear the voice of God saying as it did to Cain, 
"What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother's 



72 The Life of St Paul 

blood crieth unto Me from the ground." But with it 
he had the assurance of God's forgiveness. 

Passing the scene of the crucifixion of " Jesus of 
Nazareth," the name had for him a changed meaning. 
A glance at the garden of Joseph of Arimathea and its 
empty tomb, would remind him of the risen Lord 
Whom he had seen. He had left Jerusalem a Rabbi, 
a Pharisee, a persecutor, proud and cruel in spirit: he 
returned humble and tender, the friend and defender 
of those whom he once despised and persecuted. 

Within the walls, what must he expect from his old 
companions in persecution. His fellow-pupils in the 
school of Gamaliel, having honored him most of all, 
would treat him with scorn and contempt. He knew 
they would feel that in confessing himself to have 
been doing wrong, he condemned them also. And 
then how would their old teacher meet his favorite 
pupil who had rejected many of the Rabbi's teachings. 
How would he be treated by Theophilus, whose letter 
for the persecution of Christians Saul had never used, 
and perhaps had destroyed in holy indignation. 
Would not the faces of the Sanhedrin be turned 
toward him as full of anger as they had been toward 
Stephen; and their maddened voices repeat the cries of 
contempt in which he himself had joined, but using 
now the name of Saul instead of that of Stephen. 

But in exchange for all this would he not have the 



The Lone Fugitive in Arabia 73 

glad welcome of Christians, seeing he had become one 
of them ? Alas, herein he was disappointed, for 
"when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to 
join himself to the disciples; but they were afraid of 
him, and believed not that he was a disciple " of Jesus. 
Nor can we blame them. They were few in number, 
poor, and unprotected by the government. They 
were like a small and feeble flock of sheep. No won- 
der if they thought Saul, who had held the garments 
of their martyred brother Stephen, in claiming to be a 
disciple, was like a wolf in sheep's clothing, seeking 
again but in a different way to destroy the flock. If 
the story of his conversion had found its way from 
Damascus to Jerusalem, it was now disbelieved. So 
the Christians were cold and distant toward him, dis- 
trustful, and full of terror. He had lost his old friends 
without gaining new. With his new Master he could 
say, " Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with 
me." An earthly friend soon appeared. 



CHAPTER XI 

The New Convert in Jerusalem 

There is a beautiful tradition which we can almost 
believe concerning Barnabas. It is said that he became 
a Christian at an early date, and long and earnestly 
sought the conversion of his friend and schoolmate of 
many and happy years. Failing in this, their old friend- 
ship was broken. On Saul's return from Damascus, 
Barnabas, not knowing of the great change in him, 
meeting him on the street, tried once more to persuade 
him to turn from his evil ways and become one of the 
Christian band. Saul fell at his feet weeping and told 
him all that had happened. It is easy to believe that 
the friendship "broken by the conversion of Barnabas 
was renewed by the conversion of Saul." The com- 
panionship, begun in the school in Tarsus and contin- 
ued in that of Gamaliel, was revived and strengthened 
in Christian fellowship. Barnabas, who was called 
" a son of consolation," became such indeed to his old 
friend. He showed his confidence in Saul by intro- 
ducing him to Peter, the leader of the Church in Jeru- 
salem. Saul very much wished to meet this Apostle 
for sympathy and instruction. In one of his letters he 

74 



The New Convert in Jerusalem 75 

said, "I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode 
with him fifteen days." 

What a meeting and what a visit that must have 
been. With deepest interest Saul learned about the 
person and work of Jesus on the earth from one who 
had been for three years a companion of the Lord. 
How carefully he listened, as if from the Master's own 
lips, to the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount, and 
in the Temple and on the seashore; and also to the 
stories of the wonderful works which Jesus had^ 
done, showing His Divine power over things and 
men. 

. Peter would tell of his near relation to the Lord, how 
he had trod with Him the waves of Galilee, and was 
one of the three witnesses to the raising of the daugh- 
ter of Jairus from death, and of the agony in Gethsem- 
ane. He would tell of the wonderful scene on what 
Peter called "the Holy Mount" — of the bright cloud 
of glory, the transfigured Christ, the voice declaring 
Him to be the Son of God; of how Peter himself lay 
prostrate on the ground till Christ bid him rise; and of 
how the whole scene was a preparation for his work 
among men. 

Then would Saul tell Peter of his vision — of the 
bright light; of the glorified Christ declaring Himself 
to be Jesus of Nazareth ; of Saul himself prostrate on 
the ground until Jesus bid him rise; and of how the 



76 The Life of St Paul 

whole scene was a preparation for his work among 
men. 

Thus met and communed together for a fortnight 
the fisherman of Galilee and the tentmaker of Tarsus; 
the one having heard The voice of Jesus and seen His 
face on the earth, the other in the heavens; each called 
by Him to be an apostle. 

But Barnabas' introduction of Saul to Peter was not 
the only one. He " took him by the hand and brought 
him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he 
had seen the Lord in the way, and that He had spoken 
to him, and how he had spoken boldly at Damascus 
in the name of Jesus." 

" It was a most critical moment in Saul's life and in 
the history of the Church." From that hour he was 
numbered with the Christian band, "coming in and 
going out at Jerusalem." Doubtless he purposed to 
continue there proving to the Jews that the crucified 
Jesus was Christ the expected Messiah. 

But the time had come foretold by Ananias in Da- 
mascus when he was to bear that name before the 
Gentiles. As when in that city, so now a plot was 
laid for his destruction. He thus tells how the Lord 
directed his way: "It came to pass that when I was 
come again to Jerusalem, even while I prayed in the 
Temple, I was in a trance, and saw Him saying unto 
me, Make haste, and get thee quickly out of Jerusa- 



The New Convert in Jerusalem 77 

lem; for they will not receive thy testimony concern- 
ing Me. Depart, for I will send thee far hence to trie 
Gentiles." Thus for the third time he was told among 
whom he was to labor. 

Once more he turned toward Cilicia and the Tarsus 
of his boyhood and early manhood. Amid familiar 
scenes and idolatries he proclaimed the glorious Gospel 
of which he had learned since he dwelt among them. 



CHAPTER XII 



Peter and the Gentiles 

Joppa, now called Jaffa, on the Mediterranean coast, 
directly west of Jerusalem, is an old seaport remem- 
bered especially as that to which Solomon floated his 
cedar rafts from the mountains of Lebanon for the 
building of the Temple. Thirty miles north of Joppa 
was the coast-town of Caesarea where we remember 
young Saul landed on his first journey to Jerusalem. 

These two towns will always be thought of together 
because of a wonderful event in the early days of 
Christianity. In Jaffa was a house known as that of 
Simon the tanner. In it abode another "Simon, sur- 
named Peter." The house, like all in that country, 
had a flat roof which was a convenient and pleasant 
place for being alone. On it Peter went one day for 
prayer and meditation. A serious question seems to 
have been troubling him. It was this: Is the Gospel 
of Christ — the good news of salvation — for the Gen- 
tiles as well as the Jews ? As a Jew he had always 
supposed it was not. This question was now to be 
answered, not only for Peter, but for all men. 

While meditating and praying he "saw heaven 

78 



Peter and the Gentiles 



79 



opened " and had a strange vision, and heard the voice 
of God, revealing to him the great truth that Christ 
died for all, and that all, both Jews and Gentiles, can 
be saved through Him. 

No sooner was the trance ended than voices were 
heard in the courtyard. They were those of Gentiles. 
One of them wore the garb of a soldier. Having 
asked for the house of Simon the tanner, they asked 
for Simon, surnamed Peter. He had just heard his 
name uttered by a heavenly voice from above, and 
now by human voices from the court below. Another 
voice within told him that this was not a mere acci- 
dent, but a plan of God. While Peter thought on the 
vision, the- Spirit said unto him, " Behold, three men 
seek thee. Arise therefore, and get thee down, and 
go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent 
them." He quickly obeyed, saying to them, "I am 
he whom ye seek: what is the cause wherefore ye 
have come ? " 

They told him that they were messengers of Corne- 
lius, a Roman officer in Csesarea, a devout, benevo- 
lent, praying man who in a vision had seen an angel 
coming to him, and calling him by name — ''Corne- 
lius " — and telling him that God was pleased with his 
prayers and alms, and bidding him send for Peter who 
would tell him what he ought to do. 

When they had finished their message Peter assured 



80 The Life of St Paul 

them of his readiness to go, and invited them to re- 
main with him until the next day, when they com- 
menced their two days' journey to Caesarea. 

Now Cornelius was a Gentile. Peter, before his 
vision on the house-top, would not have thought of 
going to such a man: but now all was changed. He 
invited six Christians of Joppa to go with him and 
witness the wonderful event of a Christian Jew, an 
apostle of Jesus Christ, carrying the Gospel to a Gen- 
tile heathen. 

Four days after Cornelius had started his messen- 
gers to Joppa, they returned with Peter and his com- 
panions, making a company of ten. When they 
reached the home of the Roman officer, he prostrated 
himself before the apostle in worship. " But Peter took 
him up, saying, Stand up: I myself also am a man." 
Together they entered the house where many were 
gathered to receive him for whom an angel had told 
Cornelius to send. 

Cornelius told of his vision, and of his joy in the 
coming of Peter, who in reply uttered these words 
which at that time seemed very strange: " Of a truth 
I perceive that God is no respecter of persons; but in 
every nation, he that feareth Him and worketh right- 
eousness, is accepted with Him." He then spoke of 
peace by Jesus Christ; of how He went about doing 
good, and healing the sick; of His Crucifixion and 



Peter and the Gentiles 



81 



Resurrection; of the wonders which the apostles had 
witnessed; of His great command that His Gospel 
should be preached in all the world; and that all who 
believe in Him should receive forgiveness of their 
sins. 

" While Peter yet spake these words the Holy Ghost 
fell on all them which heard the word." The house 
of the Roman officer became a Christian home. He 
and his family, and believing friends were baptized. 

The Church in Jerusalem heard of what Peter had 
done in Csesarea. In their ignorance of all that had hap- 
pened, they were astonished and displeased. On his 
return to the Holy City, they greatly blamed him for 
entering the house of the Gentile Cornelius and even 
eating with him. Peter told them of his own vision at 
Joppa and explained its meaning; and also of the vision 
of Cornelius; and of the Holy Spirit coming upon the 
company in the Roman soldier's home as He had upon 
the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem on the day of Pen- 
tecost. 

Most of those who heard Peter's defence were satis- 
fied that he was right. They now understood what 
they had not before, that Christ was the Saviour of all 
men. With surprise and joy, they praised God for His 
mercy to the Gentiles as well as the Jews. 



CHAPTER XIII 

Antioch in Syria 

We may call Jerusalem the first capital of Christi- 
anity, the chief place where the early followers of 
Jesus were found. Antioch became the second capi- 
tal. It was three hundred miles north of Jerusalem 
between the Lebanon and the Taurus ranges of moun- 
tains, beautifully situated on the northern slope of 
Mount Silphius. It was sixteen miles from Seleucia, 
its harbor on the Mediterranean sea, whose cool 
breezes were wafted thither. A thousand streams 
flowed down the neighboring hills. The broad and 
navigable River Orontes gave beauty and richness to 
the woods nourished by it. Walls great and high 
crossed ravines and crept along the mountain-sides. 
Broad bridges spanned the river. On an island formed 
by artificial streams was the palace of the kings of 
Syria. A magnificent avenue, five miles in length ran 
through the city, lined with trees, colonnades and 
statues; and paved half its distance with blocks of 
white" marble. There were gay villas bright with 
frescoes within, while without were gardens of 
flowers and groves of laurel and myrtle. There were 

82 



Antioch in Syria 83 



splendid towers and temples, baths and theatres. In 
beauty it was almost equal to that of Alexandria and 
Rome. 

Rising above the city, looking down upon it, was a 
vast statue — a great crag of Mount Silphius which had 
been skillfully carved into a human form by command 
of Antiochus Epiphanes, to appease the anger of the 
heathen gods who he believed had caused a pestilence 
in his kingdom. On one of the bold and craggy sum- 
mits he built a temple and dedicated it to Jupiter 
Capitolinus. 

The climate of Antioch was delightful, and multi- 
tudes were attracted thither to make it their home, but 
they were chiefly a worthless rabble. 

Antioch was a wicked city, one of the worst in the 
world at the time. The inhabitants sought their pleas- 
ures chiefly in frivolous amusements of the theatre 
and races. While called the Queen of the East be- 
cause of its beauty, it was also the heathen Queen of 
Vice. Five miles from the city, on the river-bank was 
a colossal statue of the heathen deity Apollo, surrounded 
by groves of laurel, cypress and myrtle which, though 
charming and fragrant, became the unholy place of 
most shameful deeds. 

When persecuted Christians fled from Jerusalem, 
wherever they went, they carried the good news of 
Christ and salvation through Him. It thus found 



84 



The Life of St Paul 



its way into the northern part of Syria, especially the 
city of Antioch, where within a few years many be- 
came Christians. This gave great joy to those in Je- 
rusalem, who desired to give encouragement and help 
to their brethren in the distant city. The Church in 
Antioch was composed largely of Gentiles, but this 
made no difference in the feelings of some Jewish 
Christians toward them. So they determined to send 
Barnabas to Antioch. This was a most fitting ap- 
pointment. He was a large-hearted man, friendly, 
genial, full of sympathy, of a charitable spirit, zeal- 
ous and wise. His character is summed up by the 
writer of the Acts in a single short sentence: "He 
was a good man, and full of the Holy Ghost and of 
Faith." 

Being such a man no wonder it is said of him on 
reaching Antioch, " When he came and had seen the 
grace of God, he was glad." " He exhorted them all, 
that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the 
Lord." His ministry was a grand success, for " much 
people was added unto the Lord." 

Barnabas felt that he needed a helper in the glorious 
work, some one of more wisdom and knowledge than 
himself. He knew of such a man — Saul of Tarsus, his 
old friend who had fled from his plotting enemies in 
Jerusalem to his early home. So he " went to Tarsus 
to seek Saul," to whom his coming must have been a 



Antioch in Syria. 85 

great surprise. It was a joyful meeting for both in the 
place where they had first met in boyhood. What 
changes years had wrought! When Barnabas "had 
found him, he brought him unto Antioch." As he 
had introduced his friend to the Christians in Jerusa- 
lem, so he did to those in Antioch. 

A street called Singon in Antioch is remembered as 
that in which Saul began to preach the Gospel re- 
vealed to him in the street called Straight in Damascus. 
His preaching-place was in the busiest part of the 
city, the greatest thoroughfare of the giddy and the 
vile, the gay and pleasure-seeking Greeks, the wealthy 
Jews and the Roman soldiers. Near by was the Senate 
House; the Forum; the Amphitheatre; the Pantheon 
and other heathen temples. The carved image on 
Mount Silphius was above him. He looked anxiously 
and pitifully into the faces of idolaters, and happily 
into those of Christians. 

That was a new name. "The disciples were called 
Christians first at Antioch." This is one of the three 
times only that the name is found in the New Testa- 
ment. In the other two places it is used by enemies 
of the followers of Jesus. It is almost certain that it 
was not invented by the Christians themselves, who 
did not generally use it during the lives of the apos- 
tles. In those early days when trial and persecution 
brought them so closely together in affection for one 



86 The Life of St Paul 



another and devotion to their Lord, they called them- 
selves "the brethren," "the disciples," "the believers," 
"the saints," "the Church of Christ," "those of the 
way," "the elect," "the faithful." 

Nor was the name Christian given by the Jews who 
would not admit that these people were the followers 
of the true Messiah or Christ. There is no doubt that 
the name was given by Gentiles. Perhaps they only 
meant to speak of a people differing in their religious 
belief and practice from all others in the city, whose 
great theme was Christ. But there is another supposi- 
tion — that ignorant Gentiles thought the word Christ 
was, the name of a person, instead of a title meaning 
"anointed," or "the Messiah," and used it in sport 
and ridicule. In wit and laughter they called His fol- 
lowers by the nickname Christian, having no idea that 
they were giving a name that should become the most 
glorious in the world. 

.When Jesus was crucified, the title "King of the 
Jews " was written in ridicule on His cross of shame 
and torture. Now that cross stands for His blessed 
Gospel, our highest hopes, and eternal life as we sing, 

" In the Cross of Christ I glory." 

Even so has the word Christian changed from a scorn- 
ful to a glorious meaning. 



CHAPTER XIV 



Barnabas and Saul sent to Jerusalem 

For a whole year Barnabas and Saul labored together 
in Antioch with constant encouragement, for great 
numbers were added to the Church. 

Within that year about a. d. 44, certain brethren 
from Jerusalem arrived there. One of them was named 
Agabus, to whom it had been revealed that soon 
there would be a famine, especially in Judea, causing 
great trouble to the Christians in the Holy City. Those 
in Antioch did not forget what the mother church had 
done for them in sending Barnabas to help them in 
spiritual things. So now they were ready, in sym- 
pathy and gratitude, to send relief to their famine- 
stricken brethren, which they did "by the hands of 
Barnabas and Saul." 

Their arrival in Jerusalem was just before the Pass- 
over feast, or toward the end of March. For five years 
the little church there had enjoyed peace, but now 
trouble had come worse than famine. 

Herod Agrippa I., to make himself popular with the 
Jews, persecuted the Christians. Here is the short 
story of a great crime: "Herod the king stretched 

87 



88 



The Life of St Paul 



forth his hands to vex certain of the Church, and he 
killed James the brother of John with the sword. And 
because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded 
further to take Peter also." 

These three disciples were especially honored by the 
Church in Jerusalem. James was the elder brother of 
John. We think of them as fisher-boys and then as 
men, followers together of Jesus who was possibly 
their relative, having no separate interests, with con- 
tinued love for each other until the hour when Herod 
separated them with his cruel sword. They were two 
of the three favored disciples of the Lord. James was 
the first of them to follow Him to death. John lived 
to an old age, mourning the loss of the other two. 

There is a legend concerning the death of James. It 
is said that he was condemned by a false accuser who 
was so affected by the words and spirit of the martyr 
that he confessed himself to have become a Christian. 
On the way to the place of execution he asked forgive- 
ness of James who replied, "Peace be to thee," and 
kissed him; whereupon they were beheaded together. 

Neither Herod nor the Jews were satisfied with the 
death of James only. He planned another trial for the 
infant church, even the death of Peter, whom he ar- 
rested and imprisoned, intending after the Jews' seven 
sacred days of the Passover Feast to bring him forth 
for public execution. By day and night the apostle 



Peter Delivered from Prison by an Angel From an old print 



Barnabas and Saul sent to Jerusalem 89 

was closely guarded by sixteen soldiers, to two of 
whom he was bound with chains. 

There was no power on earth to help him, but there 
was with God. In the house of a Christian woman 
known as " Mary, the mother of John, whose surname 
was Mark," many Christians gathered for prayer for 
Peter's deliverance from prison. The seventh night of 
the feast had come. In the morning Herod would 
bring him forth. While "prayer was made without 
ceasing for him," in the house of Mary, it was heard in 
heaven, and answered by the coming of an angel to 
Peter's prison, and releasing him from his chains, and 
leading him through the prison gates. Peter joined the 
astonished praying band, and "declared unto them 
how the Lord had brought him out of the prison." 

Mary was a kinswoman of Barnabas. It is possi- 
ble that he and Saul were of the number who joyfully 
welcomed Peter, in whose house Saul had been enter- 
tained the last time he was in Jerusalem, and whence 
he fled to Cilicia when a plot was laid for his own life. 

The martyrdom of James was followed by a terrible 
retribution. In the same month as is supposed in 
which that apostle was slain and Peter imprisoned, the 
tyrant Herod's days were ended in a more awful man- 
ner than even by the merciless sword. 

Once more we turn to Csesarea, the Roman capital of 
Palestine, in which we have found the home of Cor- 



92 The Life of St Paul 

and his mother Mary. He was a young man of deep 
feeling and excellent spirit, apparently willing to go 
anywhere in the service of Christ. During the stay of 
his kinsman and Saul in his home, it was determined 
that he should leave it and join them on their return to 
Antioch. So Mary, his loving mother, in separating 
from so good a son was comforted in the thought of 
the glorious work in which he was to engage with 
such companions for his encouragement and guidance. 



CHAPTER XV 



Beginning of the First Missionary Journey 

The return of Barnabas and Saul to Antioch was at 
a most interesting and important time. The city was 
to become the second capital of Christianity, and the 
starting-point of missionary tours. The church there, 
the first to bear the Christian name, was to be the 
first to send forth messengers of Christ to regions 
where He was unknown. 

The aged Simeon had prophesied that the infant 
Jesus in his arms was to be a Light to the Gentiles as 
well as to His own people, the Jews. The risen Lord 
had commanded, "Go, teach all nations." Peter's 
vision at Joppa had been a revelation of salvation for 
all. Saul remembered the trance in Jerusalem in 
which he heard a voice saying, "I will send thee far 
hence to the Gentiles "; and was waiting for the time 
when the Lord would fulfill His purpose concerning 
him. The Church at Antioch had not yet thought of 
Saul the convert as Paul the Apostle. 

At the time of his return from Jerusalem with 
Barnabas, they with three other " prophets and teach- 
ers" were the most prominent of the Christian com- 

93 



94 



The Life of St Paul 



munity. While praying and fasting they had a reve- 
lation of God's will concerning the beginning of 
mission labors. In that solemn hour the Holy Spirit 
came upon them in a special manner. There was a 
sudden answer to their prayers. It came in the form 
of a command, "Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for 
the work whereunto I have called them." 

Whether or not other Christians had part in this 
service, we may feel assured of their deepest interest 
in it. It was a sad thing to send away the two whom 
they most loved and who were their chief teachers 
and guides. But they were ready to obey the com- 
mand for the good of those who had not yet learned 
of the Gospel of Christ. On another day of fasting 
and prayer there was a solemn ordination of Barnabas 
and Saul and consecration to their work. From that 
hour Saul became in a fuller sense than before the 
apostle of the Gentiles. From that time the city known 
as the Queen of the East had greater honor, for "that 
noble missionary river now fertilizing the world had 
its little fountain-head in Antioch." 

Hitherto we have thought of Jerusalem alone as the 
place whence Paul took his journeys. Now we must 
think of Antioch. From thence he with Barnabas and 
Mark started on what is known as his First Missionary 
Tour. The first place toward which they turned was 
the Island of Cyprus. 




6 



Beginning of the First Missionary Journey 95 

As Paul left his preaching place in the street Singon 
where his success had been so great and Christian 
companionship so tender, it was with high hopes and 
great expectations, inspired by the thought that he 
was "sent forth by the Holy Spirit." 

If we knew the name of that apostolic barque in 
which he sailed, it would be cherished as much in 
Christian homes as "Mayflower" is in American. It 
sailed down the Syrian Orontes river which winds 
around the bases of high and precipitous mountains 
of the Lebanon range, giving richness to its banks 
adorned with the vine and the fig-tree, myrtle, bay, 
ilex, arbutus, dwarf oak, and English sycamore. 

That barque carried a greater than Alexander or 
Napoleon whose deeds have made memorable the 
shores of the Mediterranean whither Saul was bound, 
but with a far different purpose. He was not seeking 
his own glory, but that of Him whose barque floated 
on the sea of Galilee, bearing peace and good-will to 
the multitudes who lined its shores. Saul and his , 
companions gazed on Mount Casius, rising from the 
edge of the sea to the height of five thousand feet 
above it. They entered the seaport of Seleucia. 

Out on the open sea, they sailed southwestward for 
Cyprus, whose mountain summits can be seen on a 
clear day from the mouth of the Orontes. This was 
the sea which Saul was to traverse again and again; 



96 The Life of St Paul 

on which he would be four times wrecked; and on 
whose billows he would spend a day and a night. 
Yet these were but parts of the trials he was to endure 
on the sea and on the land. Such were then hidden 
from him. As we shall see them coming upon him, 
we shall also and always hear- him saying, "None of 
these things move me." "I count not my life dear 
unto myself." "I can do all things in Him that 
strengtheneth me." Probably a widower and child- 
less, without any permanent home, with one aim — the 
glory of his Lord and the good of his fellow-men — he 
was prepared to go anywhere, and to be, to do, and 
to suffer whatever might happen on his mission jour- 
neys. 

A fair wind and a few hours would bring the com- 
pany to Salamis, the port of Cyprus, familiar from 
boyhood to Barnabas, and probably to John Mark as a 
visiting place among his kindred. The ruins of its 
piers, still visible, tell of its former busy scenesr 

As Barnabas met his family and Christian friends, 
there was no thought of our day when a church and 
grotto dedicated to him would remind the traveler of 
the tradition that he was martyred by Nero and buried 
near Salamis. 

Thus far in our story we have spoken of Barnabas 
and Saul. For this there has been good reason. Bar- 
nabas has been called the " discoverer of Saul." We 



Beginning of the First Missionary Journey 97 

remember how, when Christians in Jerusalem would 
not believe the story of Saul's conversion, Barnabas 
led to them the friend of his youth, his fellow-student 
in Tarsus and Jerusalem, and inspired their confidence 
in the converted persecutor, whom they need no 
longer fear. In their labors together in Antioch and in 
their mission of charity to Jerusalem, and in their jour- 
neys hitherto, Barnabas had been the apparent leader. 
And now on the island of Cyprus — his old home — his 
high social position and landed property which he had 
sold to help his fellow-Christians, would give him 
a higher place in the minds of those who knew 
him than would be given to his less known com- 
panion. 

Barnabas knew that Saul was a greater man than 
he, and worthy of higher honor. But he was too 
good a friend and Christian to care for this. He was 
not jealous, but had the humble spirit of John the 
Baptist who declared concerning the Christ, "He 
must increase, but I must decrease." It was on this 
journey, immediately after leaving Salamis that we 
find the order of their names generally changed. 
From this time moreover Saul dropped that Jewish 
name for his Roman one of Paul, because perhaps his 
work was not to be among the Jews so much as the 
Pagan Romans. So henceforth we read, not of Bar- 
nabas and Saul, but Paul and Barnabas. 



9« 



The Life of St Paul 



After " preaching the word of God in the syna- 
gogues of the Jews " in Salamis, the three missionaries 
including John Mark continued their journey. They 
traversed the beautiful and fertile plains of Cyprus 
which gave it the name of the Blest, and made it the 
resort of merchants from Egypt, Phoenicia, and Asia 
Minor. But these missionaries did not seek to enrich 
themselves with the " corn, wine and oil " which were 
produced in abundance, or with the diamonds, emer- 
alds, silver, lead and copper which its rivers and mines 
contained. They had " unsearchable riches" which 
they carried the whole length of the island, about one 
hundred miles, to Paphos, in the southwestern ex- 
tremity, on the seashore. It was the chief town, and 
the residence of the Roman Governor. 

The ignorant Pagan inhabitants of Cyprus believed 
it to be under the protection of a heathen goddess 
named Venus, whom they also called Cypria. They 
had a fable that she sprang from the foam of the sea. 
She was no protection from evil, for the worship of 
her increased the wickedness of the inhabitants, and 
of the sailors and others who visited the island. It 
was so great and of such a kind that we cannot even 
speak or write about it. Even the worship in her 
temple was with shameful deeds. 

The principal temple of Venus on the island was at 
Paphos. It was surrounded by beautiful groves of 



Elymas Struck with Blindness From an old print 



Beginning of the First Missionary Journey 99 

trees that bore delicious fruit: but these did not re- 
mind the worshipers of the true and holy God. 

To this unholy city came Paul and his companions 
to tell of Him and salvation through Christ. Paul 
wrote in one of his letters, "Not many noble are 
called" to be Christians. Those whom the world call 
great because of their power, or riches, or learning, too 
often think more of such things, belonging to this life 
only, than they do of things belonging to the world 
to come. But this is not always true. There are rich 
men, learned men, men of power who are truly noble 
and great because they are good. Such an one became 
the Roman Governor, Sergius Paulus, living in Paphos. 

There seems to have been a strange dweller in his 
royal palace, described in Acts (xiii. 6) as "a certain 
sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was 
Bar-Jesus." He gave himself the title of Ely mas, the 
wise one, the wizard. He was a deceiver, pretending 
to work miracles, for which he received much money. 

Sergius Paulus heard of Paul and Barnabas, sent 
for them, and " desired to hear the word of God " — 
not from curiosity, but because he wanted to know 
the truth as believed by the Christians of whom he had 
doubtless heard. Elymas tried to turn the governor 
away from them and from Jesus whose holy name we 
suppose he blasphemed. Then "Saul, who is also 
called Paul," — the old name now being dropped for 



ioo The Life of St Paul 

the new — sharply but justly reproved him for his 
great sin. Paul, gazing on the lying impostor, de- 
clared him to be "full of all mischief, a child of the 
devil, an enemy of all righteousness." These were 
terrible words, but true. Paul, taught by the Holy 
Spirit, told him of an awful punishment for his sin, 
saying, "Now behold, the hand of the Lord is upon 
thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a 
season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a 
darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him 
by the hand." In the royal palace where he had used 
his pretended wonder-working power, he groped his 
way as in a prison of despair. 

When the governor saw what was done, he be- 
lieved Paul, and became a Christian. In the town of 
Paphos where the vile Venus was worshiped, there 
was founded a church of the followers of Jesus, who 
said, " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see 
God." 



CHAPTER XVI 



Perga. — * " Perils in the Wilderness" 

"Now when Paul and his company loosed from 
Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia." So says 
the writer of the Acts, speaking of Paul as the new 
leader taking the place of Barnabas. 

Perga, near the middle coast of Asia Minor, was 
beautifully situated in a valley, on the river Cestrus, 
which cuts its way through the towering rocks. The 
principal object of interest and sadness to the little 
company was the evidence of idolatry. As at Antioch 
and Paphos, they looked upon a heathen temple. The 
one in Perga was of Diana, on a lofty eminence to 
which multitudes flocked every year when a festival 
was held in honor of the goddess. 

Paul and Barnabas were saddened by another thing. 

The simple record is, "John Mark departed from them 

and returned to Jerusalem." These few words are 

full of meaning. They tell a story of disappointment 

and deep sorrow. We are not told why John deserted 

his companions, but can imagine some reasons. He 

was young. The novelty of his new missionary life 

had worn off. Perhaps he was homesick, and thought 

of his aged mother lonely in Jerusalem, surrounded by 

101 



io2 The Life of St Paul 



persecutors, and wondered if she longed for her absent 
son though she had consented to his leaving home. 
Perhaps the young disciple had grown weary of the 
work in which at first he had been zealous. As he 
gazed on the Taurus mountains, of whose lawless 
population he had heard, and whose fastnesses were the 
abodes of brigands, he may have become terrified. 
He was not prepared like Paul to "endure hardness as 
a good soldier of Jesus Christ." 

Paul and Barnabas must have missed his genial spirit 
and sprightly companionship, and he must have had a 
lonely voyage back to his home. His mother must 
have greeted him with a mingled feeling of love and 
sorrow. We would not judge him harshly. He re- 
pented of his conduct. He was ready to accompany 
the apostles on another missionary journey: and did so 
with Barnabas. Paul retained a kindly feeling toward 
him. Long afterward, when a Roman prisoner, he 
wrote of him as "a comfort, and a fellow-worker 
unto the kingdom of God." 

After bidding farewell to John Mark, Paul and 
Barnabas began the second stage of their journey — 
from Perga in Pamphylia to Antioch in Pisidia. They 
first went through a mountainous region, difficult and 
dangerous to travelers alone and unprotected. It was 
late spring or early summer, the only seasons in which 
travel was possible because of severe cold or drifting 



Perga.— 4 Perils in the Wilderness" 103 

snows. Even now there was danger from the melt- 
ing snows. 

Their route lay through narrow valleys between 
lofty cliffs, down which flowed numberless murmur- 
ing cascades through dark forests of pine; while 
through narrow ravines wildly dashed the " water- 
floods," such as David prayed might not overflow 
him. These emptied into larger streams, not gently 
flowing like the Orontes or the Cydnus with which 
Paul had become so familiar, but rushing torrents 
whose peaceful shores were adorned with pome- 
granate and oleander and mountain flowers. The 
bridges that spanned them gave no promise of safety; 
so that Paul long remembered the " perils of rivers" in 
this region. Here too he was in "perils of robbers" 
of which he ever had fresh memory — as of no other 
place in all his journeyings. In those mountain glens 
are yet told, from generation to generation, tales of 
robber chiefs and wild and lawless clans of savage 
tribes, who dwelt in caves and castles from which 
they could not be driven by even Roman armies 
who quailed before them. 

The two pilgrims, staff in hand, follow the slippery 
paths upon the mountain slopes. The dry heat of the 
seacoast is changed for the damp, cold mountain air. 
The bright flowers of the lower region give place to 
stunted shrubs and plants, except where a few bloom 



104 The Life of St Paul 

in beds of snow whose whiteness makes brighter and 
richer the colors of the mountain flowers. The pil- 
grims find shelter in cave or grotto, glad if it be that 
of a welcoming shepherd; and sometimes among the 
friendly pines which protect them from the cold and 
piercing winds. 

At last the scene changes, and they look down from 
the wintry and rocky steeps, upon the flat and sum- 
mery table-lands. Descending they traverse the 
plains carpeted with green grass and variegated with 
flowers. There countless herds of cattle are grazing, 
and shepherd-huts made of goats' hair are reminders 
of Paul's craft in Tarsus, often the means of gaining 
his daily bread. His path lies among the lakes of 
fresh water and salt, over which wild swans are fly- 
ing, and into which they dip their plumes. Among 
the reeds and rushes of the morasses the storks stand 
all day long watching for the straying fish, while the 
tortoises bask in the shallow pools. 

In our thoughts of the two wayfarers we must add 
to the dangers of the mountains, those trials of which 
travelers of to-day tell us — the heavy rains, the over- 
powering heat, the exhausting fatigue, the annoyances 
of insects, the blinding storms of dust, the scarcity of 
even poor provisions. But none of these things, nor 
all combined, checked their progress, nor cooled their 
ardor. 



CHAPTER XVII 



Anttoch in Ptstdia — Iconium 

A week's journey from Perga would bring Paul and 
Barnabas to Antioch in Pisidia. Unknown and un- 
noticed they would go to the "strangers' rooms" at- 
tached to the synagogue, .and secure one in the Jewish 
quarter. In it Paul would do what he told others to 
do, "Work with your own hands." Thus busy in 
tentmaking, he would be equally so with his tongue, 
teaching all who came to hear the new, strange teacher. 
His room becomes not only a lodging-place and a 
shop, but to some a more sacred place than the syna- 
gogue, because there they learn of the risen Saviour 
and believe in Him. 

Of the latter place there was only one in the city. 
In form and appearance it was doubtless like those of 
the present day in the East. It was low and square, 
without sculptured ornament such as was found in 
the Gentile places of worship. On one side was lat- 
tice work behind which sat the women veiled and si- 
lent. In front of them was the reader's desk. Near 
it, facing the congregation, sat Rabbis and Pharisees 
in the chief seats of the synagogue. 

105 



io6 The Life of St Paul 



As each worshiper entered he covered his head. 
Prayer was offered by one called "the angel of the 
synagogue." He stood, as also the congregation did, 
facing Jerusalem. Behind a curtain were kept the 
sacred rolls — the writings of the Old Testament. 
Prayer was followed by the reading of the Scriptures 
in Hebrew, which was unknown to the Jews in An- 
tioch, and so were translated into Greek by an inter- 
preter who stood by the reader. There was no regu- 
lar preacher. Any one might be asked to speak. 

Paul was a Rabbi and Barnabas was an educated 
man. But they did not have the spirit of those whom 
Christ reproved because in pride they loved the chief 
seats: so the apostles sat with the congregation. 
Many in the synagogue may have heard of the two 
strangers and were glad when they accepted an invi- 
tation to speak. Without going into the pulpit, "Paul 
stood up, and beckoning with his hand," began his ad- 
dress. As is said of Jesus in Nazareth, "the eyes of 
all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on 
Him." He then preached his first recorded sermon. 
It was concerning that same Jesus — forgiveness of sins 
and salvation through Him, and especially His resur- 
rection from the dead. 

There was great interest in Paul's discourse. Gen- 
tiles rejoiced in the good news that salvation was of- 
fered to them as well as to the Jews, and "besought 




The " Book of the Law" — Fifteenth Century 

British Museum, add. Ms. 4707 

The complete column of the Hebrew text contains the " Song of 
Moses" (Exod. xv. 1-19). 

From Bible Illustrations, copyright by Henry Frowde, 1896. 



Antioch in Pisidia — Iconium 107 



that these words might be preached to them the next 
Sabbath." Many of the congregation followed Paul 
and Barnabas who gladly taught them. 

During the week many heard of the great sermon. 
"And the next Sabbath-day came almost the whole 
city together to hear the word of God." Paul spoke 
again. The interest deepened. Many believed him, 
and rejoiced in the truth he preached. But not all. 
"When the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled 
with envy, and spake against those things which were 
spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming." He 
then solemnly told them that in so doing they showed 
themselves unworthy of everlasting life, and said, 
" Lo, we turn to the Gentiles." These were exceed- 
ingly glad, and received the good things which the 
Jews had rejected. 

The Jews would not let the apostles alone. They 
persuaded women of rank and influence, and the chief 
men of the city to persecute them, and so drive them 
from Antioch. So once more they did as Christ told 
the twelve apostles, "When they persecute you in one 
city, flee ye to another." 

But Paul and Barnabas left behind them a Church of 
Christ which they had founded, and with which the 
Holy Spirit remained to help and comfort, even among 
their enemies. 

Driven from Antioch Paul and Barnabas went sixty 



108 The Life of St Paul 

miles to Iconium in Lycaonia. This journey was over 
dry, dusty, bleak plains, on which great numbers of 
wild asses roamed, and vast flocks of sheep grazed. 

Iconium was situated on an oasis — a green spot in 
the desert — at the foot of Mount Taurus. As Paul 
saw the mountain-tops covered with snow, he must 
have remembered Mount Hermon and Damascus — the 
beautiful city in the wilderness where he had begun 
his Christian work. Iconium was once a city of great 
splendor, but now only broken slabs and columns and 
pedestals are there, reminding us of its former glory. 

As at Antioch, Paul sought a lodging-place, worked 
at his trade, went to the synagogue on the Sabbath, 
spoke as invited, talked with people in private houses* 
and helped many to turn to the Lord. But also, as at 
Antioch, he was persecuted by the Jews, who pur- 
posed to stone him and Barnabas. So again they fled. 
Before this time they had been in capitals of countries 
and other large cities of great wealth and learning, 
chiefly on the seashore and rivers. But when they left 
Iconium, they went on roads traveled but little, and 
visited smaller and poorer towns of the desert. 



CHAPTER XVIII 



Lystra 

Forty miles from Iconium Paul and Barnabas reached 
the little town of Lystra in Lycaonia. It is not now 
known exactly where it stood. The supposed spot is 
called Black Mountain, noted as a dangerous place be- 
cause of the many and daring robbers who make it 
their home. Lystra was a heathen city. There seems 
to have been no synagogue in it, and only a few Jews. 
The people generally knew nothing of the God the 
Jews worshiped. When the apostles came near the 
city, they saw a great temple. Before it there was a 
statue of "Jupiter, the king of the Pagan gods," "the 
father of gods and men." The ignorant worshipers 
believed he watched over it and kept them from harm. 
They brought animals to the temple to be slain by the 
priests and offered in worship. 

As there was no synagogue, the apostles held their 
service in the open air, on the street, or in the market- 
place, or under the shady trees. "There they preached 
the Gospel " to a strange audience, villagers of little 
learning, and rude in dress and manner. It was the 

109 



no The Life of St Paul 

same good news concerning Christ which they 
preached to wise and refined men in the cities. 

Paul and Barnabas seemed strange to them because 
of the things they said. The longer the apostles 
stayed, the more interested and excited the people be- 
came. Paul was the chief speaker. They were ready 
to say of him as some said of Jesus, "Never man spake 
like this man." They began to think that perhaps the 
apostles were gods such as they worshiped. Then 
something happened which made them believe this 
was so. In the group about Paul there was a certain 
man "impotent" — weak — in his feet, being a cripple 
who had never walked. That is a sad description. 
As a child he had never taken even tottering steps. 
He had never been a bounding boy, full of life, racing 
with his companions. As a man he had always to 
lie on the ground, as he did when Paul was preaching. 
He turned his face toward the apostle, gazed upon 
him in wonder, believed the Gospel of Christ, and 
even "had faith to be healed." Paul understood this 
as he earnestly looked upon the poor man with pity 
and yet with gladness because of what Jesus was 
about to do through him. He spoke to the cripple in 
a loud voice, saying, "Stand upright on thy feet." 
Immediately "he leaped and walked" with a joy he 
had never known before. He was healed by Jesus 
whose Gospel Paul was preaching, and Who had said 



Lystra. 



1 1 1 



to a man sick of the palsy, "Rise up and walk." 
Paul may have used the words of Peter to the "im- 
potent" man at "the beautiful gate of the Temple" — 
" In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk." 
With what a thrill of delight did the cripple of Lystra 
give his first leap and take his first step; but with 
what greater joy did he learn of Him by Whom he 
had been healed. 

The multitudes seeing the miracle were filled with 
awe and excitement. They were ever ready to believe 
marvelous tales, especially about the deities they wor- 
shiped. Mistaking Paul and Barnabas for such, they 
cried out, "The gods have come down to us in the 
likeness of men." They believed that this sometimes 
happened. They gave new names to the apostles, 
names of heathen divinities. Barnabas is described as 
a tall man with a noble figure, and a kind, pleasant 
face. That was the sort of being which the Lystrians 
imagined their chief god to be, near whose temple 
they were gathered. So they gave to Barnabas the 
name of Jupiter. Mercury was believed to be small in 
size, and one who helped men to express their 
thoughts in beautiful language which interested and 
excited the hearers. He was called the god of elo- 
quence. As Paul was smaller than Barnabas and the 
chief speaker, he was named Mercury. 

The news of the wonderful miracle spread. The 



112 The Life of St Paul 



whole town was in the utmost excitement. The 
priest of Jupiter was called to do honor to the sup- 
posed gods. Oxen crowned with garlands were 
brought for sacrifice to them. A procession was 
formed to escort the supposed heavenly visitors from 
their lodgings to the temple. 

At first the apostles were ignorant of this intended 
idolatrous worship of them. Discovering the purpose, 
they were grieved at the ignorance and superstition of 
the people. They were filled with horror at the 
thought of homage being given to them which be- 
longs to God only. They rent their garments to show 
the depth of their feeling. Springing to the doorway 
of their lodging they forbade entrance, saying, "Sirs, 
why do ye these things ? We also are men of like 
passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should 
turn from these vanities unto the Living God, which 
made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things 
that are therein." 

These truthful words changed the minds of the rude 
heathen. But, while the multitudes turned away 
from the apostles, they did not turn to the true God. 
The oxen were driven away, but not for sacrifice. 
The garlands faded away as did the honor for which 
they were intended. With little thought the people 
asked, "If these strange visitors are not gods who — 
what are they ? " In their ignorance, they were easily 



Lystra 



"3 



made to believe that Paul and Barnabas deserved ridi- 
cule and punishment, instead of honor and worship. 
This was done by certain Jews who had followed 
them from Iconium and even Antioch to turn the 
Lystrians against them. They made the people be- 
lieve that the healing of the cripple was not a miracle 
by God, but was some magic done by ' 'Beelzebub, 
the prince of the devils," by whom certain men said 
Jesus performed His miracles. They persuaded the 
rude mob of Lystra to attempt to do what they them- 
selves had purposed in Iconium, but had failed in do- 
ing: that was to kill Paul. He was not "cast out of 
the city and stoned," as Stephen was in Jerusalem, but 
his enemies "having stoned Paul, drew him out of the 
city, supposing he had been dead. What memories 
he must have had of that other scene when he kept 
the raiment of them that slew Stephen. He never for- 
got that hour in Lystra. In after years, when telling 
of his sufferings, he wrote, "Once was I stoned." 
His stoning must have been near the temple of 
Jupiter. 

The Christian disciples, his faithful friends, followed 
him outside the walls, and stood around his mangled 
body. Poor Barnabas must have thought of a lonely 
burial in a strange city, and of the sad message he 
must carry to Antioch in Syria, and to Jerusalem — 
" Paul is dead." 



ii4 The Life of St Paul 

But he was not dead. He had been stunned by the 
stones and swooned away. While they looked upon 
him in pity and love, he "rose up" as from the dead, 
and in feebleness and pain " came into the city." 



CHAPTER XIX 



Timothy — Derbe and the Homeward Journey 

In the group weeping around Paul's apparently life- 
less form at Lystra, may have been a woman named 
Lois, and her daughter Eunice with a young son fifteen 
years of age. His name was Timothy. As he looked 
into the pale face of Paul, stained with blood, and yet 
calm in apparent death, he may have had such 
thoughts as we have supposed Saul had when looking 
into the face of the martyred Stephen. Each of them 
saw how a Christian can die, even a death of agony. 
If present, with what joy Timothy saw Paul revive, 
his eyes open, his hands move, his effort to rise, the 
returning knowledge of things about him. We may 
even think of his leading the apostle to his own 
home, where his services and the womanly care of his 
mother and grandmother helped returning life. Per- 
haps Timothy read to him from the Scriptures with 
which he had already become familiar, especially the 
Psalms written by David in affliction. 

We have imagined that Paul in Jerusalem with Bar- 
nabas was a guest of Mary, whose son John Mark 

115 



n6 The Life of St Paul 



became his companion. We may also imagine Paul 
the guest of Eunice, whose son Timothy in future 
years was to be of more value to him and to the 
church than John Mark and even Barnabas. He was 
to be a companion in journeys, a trusted messenger, a 
minister to churches established by Paul, a comforter 
in prison and elsewhere, for twenty-three years until 
the end of the life of the apostle. With a fatherly 
affection, Paul called him his son Timothy. It is prob- 
able that Timothy, his mother and grandmother, be- 
came Christians at the time of Paul's persecution, thus 
giving him exceeding joy in his affliction. 

Suffering from his wounds, Paul fled from Lystra 
in Lycaonia to Derbe, where he was allowed to rest a 
short time, happy and successful in labor, without any 
to oppose him. There he gained a valued friend for 
many years, Gaius by name. 

Paul now commenced his return trip to Antioch in 
Syria. But he would not leave the region where 
Christians were like sheep on a desert or among 
wolves, without a visit to each flock to give strength 
and comfort. He was a bold man in doing this where 
his life was in constant danger from those whose 
plots of murder had thus far failed. Doubtless his 
friends kept secret his movements helping him as they 
could, as did the disciples who aided his escape from 
Damascus. As he went from place to place, the joy- 



Derbe and the Homeward Journey 117 

ful news would be whispered, "Paul is here." In 
each there were solemn meetings and earnest prayer, 
and the ordaining of elders who should be the leaders 
of the little company when the apostle was gone. 
He went from Derbe twenty miles to Lystra; thence 
forty miles to Iconium; then sixty miles to Antioch 
in Pisidia. 

Recrossing the steep, rugged, dangerous, rocky 
mountains of Taurus, where we followed him in his 
outward journey, he is again at Perga in Pamphylia. 
There he stays some time preaching, perhaps while 
waiting for a vessel at the seaport of Attaleia to carry 
him back to Seleucia in Syria, whence he had sailed 
for Cyprus at the beginning of his journey. Once 
more the lofty Mount Casius is in sight. He sails up 
the beautiful Orontes whose green banks, shaded with 
ilex, myrtle and arbutus, are a great and pleasing con- 
trast to the barren plains of Lycaonia, seeming to wel- 
come his return to Syrian Antioch. Entering the city 
he goes to the street Signon, of which he has pleasant 
memories because of the Christians who now hasten 
to greet him whom they sadly sent forth as their mis- 
sionary to Asia Minor. With deep emotion he tells 
the story of his journey — his sufferings and successes. 
It is not about the plots to take his life, and his fleeing 
from city to city, and the stoning at Lystra, that he 
has the most to say; but that worshipers of false gods 



ii8 The Life of St Paul 

like Diana and Jupiter had become worshipers of the 
true God. 

As Paul continued his story, these disciples who 
were first called Christians in Antioch of Syria rejoiced 
greatly that in the city of the same name in Pisidia and 
other places there were those who also could be called 
by the name Christian. 

So ended Paul's First Missionary Journey. The 
memory of his experiences never faded. In after 
years he wrote to Timothy: "Thou hast known my 
doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, 
charity, patience, persecutions, afflictions, which came 
upon me at Antioch, Iconium, at Lystra; what per- 
secutions I endured; but out of them all the Lord 
delivered me." 

He returned to Antioch " a shattered man " : yet with 
his weakened body he had a strengthened "purpose" 
and " faith "and " patience," to endure whatever his 
Lord called him to be, to do and to suffer as the apos- 
tle of the Gentiles, 



CHAPTER XX 



Christian Jews and Gentiles 

We have noticed the hatred of the Jews toward the 
Gentiles. They prided themselves upon being the de- 
scendants of Abraham. They believed that they were 
the favorites of God — that He cared for them more 
than for any other people. So they looked down upon 
the Gentiles, refusing to treat them as equals. They 
did business with them, but would not visit nor eat 
with them as with friends. 

We remember how, on the house-top in Joppa, God 
taught Peter that all this was wrong; and how he 
went to the house of Cornelius and preached the Gos- 
pel to him a Gentile, and how he went to the Church 
at Jerusalem and told the people there that the Gospel 
of Christ was for all. Some were satisfied and ready 
to treat Gentile Christians with kindness, and wel- 
come them to the same Church with themselves. But 
others would not. While they called themselves 
Christians, they were not showing the Christian spirit. 

And so in Jerusalem and elsewhere the question was 
being asked by many, " Must the Jews who have be- 

119 



i2o The Life of St Paul 



come Christians and the Gentiles who have become 
Christians be members of the same Church and all be 
treated alike; or shall there be one church for the Jew- 
ish Christians and another for the Gentile Christians ? " 
This was a very serious question. It gave Paul and 
the best Christians a great deal of trouble, because 
these differences were contrary to the teachings of 
Christ Who loved all, arid commanded all to love one 
another as brethren. 

Some of these mistaken Church members in Jerusa- 
lem went to Antioch and tried to influence the Jewish 
Christians there against the Gentile converts. They 
had been Pharisees and said that those who did not 
obey Jewish law could not be saved. They claimed 
that Christian baptism was of no use. The Gentile 
converts were greatly troubled. They had not so un- 
derstood Peter and Paul and Christ. 

The matter was so important that Paul and Barnabas 
were asked to go from Antioch to Jerusalem and see 
the apostles and get their advice. Paul was all the 
more ready to go because he had a revelation from 
God telling him so to do. He took with them Titus, a 
young Gentile Christian, who would be much inter- 
ested in what the apostles would say. They too 
would be interested in him because he showed what a 
good man a heathen might become. As the three 
journeyed from Antioch to Jerusalem, " declaring the 



Christian Jews and Gentiles 121 

conversion of the Gentiles, they caused great joy to all 
the brethren " whom they met. 

Once more Paul enters the Holy City to which he 
had come in boyhood to the school of Gamaliel, and 
then in early manhood after his conversion to see 
Peter, and then to bring offerings from Antioch to the 
famine-stricken Christians of Jerusalem. He had a 
private meeting with Peter, James — called "the just" 
because he was so honest and true — and John. These 
were the "pillars of the Church," the men whose 
learning, wisdom and goodness helped the Christian 
company more than did any others. 

Then there was a larger meeting of the Church 
to talk about the great question of which we have 
spoken. There was much said, but we have only the 
four speeches of Peter, Paul, Barnabas and James. 

With them at last all agreed, that there should not 
be one Church for Jewish Christians and another 
for the Gentile, but all should be treated as equals be- 
cause both were followers of the same Lord of all. A 
letter saying this was written to the Christians in Anti- 
och and other places, and sent to that city by Paul and 
others. One of them was named Silas, who was to 
become his companion in mission journeys. The 
church in Antioch was made happy by the letter from 
Jerusalem. It was ready to welcome all who could be 
called Christians, no matter by what other name they 



122 



The Life of St Paul 



were called or to what nation they belonged. This 
meeting of the apostles in Jerusalem is known in 
Church History as the First General Council. 

In that meeting a pleasant thing happened to Paul. 
One of its members, who had made no speech, gave 
him "the right hand of fellowship" to show how 
pleased he and the others were at what he had said 
and done. That one was John " the beloved disciple " 
of their Lord. So far as we know, this was the only 
time that these two apostles ever met. This was in 
Jerusalem. Their earthly journeys were to be in dif- 
ferent directions guided by their Master till they should 
meet in the New Jerusalem. 



CHAPTER XXI 



Beginning of Paul's Second Missionary Journey 

After the return of Paul and Barnabas from the 
First Missionary Tour, they remained in Antioch "a 
long time " — two years. Then Paul said to Barnabas, 
"Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city 
where we have preached the word of the Lord, and 
see how they do." This was a noble purpose. It 
was like that of a loving father wanting to " visit" his 
children. 

But before he started a very painful thing happened. 
Good men sometimes think and feel differently, and 
this makes them do wrong. They are not as good 
friends as they were; but in the end they may become 
as friendly and even loving as before. Being friends 
of Christ helps men to obey His command to love one 
another. All this was true of Paul and Barnabas. On 
the Second Missionary Journey Barnabas wanted to 
take his kinsman John Mark with them. You remem- 
ber that this young man had started with them on the 
first journey, but left them at Perga and returned 
home, because as we have supposed he was discour- 
aged as he thought of the trials and dangers which 

123 



12 4 



The Life of St Paul 



must be met. Paul was unwilling to trust him again. 
Barnabas was disappointed and very much displeased. 
So these two good men, who had been together so 
long and done so much good together, agreed to sepa- 
rate. It is sad to see them part in this manner. They 
never met again; but this was not because of a con- 
tinued quarrel. Paul afterward wrote of Barnabas 
very kindly and showed him much honor. When in 
Rome he sent for John Mark to come to him, trusting 
him whom he had refused to trust in Antioch. Barna- 
bas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, his native island. 

Paul chose Silas for his companion and started on 
his Second Missionary Journey. It was to be longer 
and more dangerous and more important than his first 
or third. In its results, it was to be grander than any 
other journey taken by any other man. When Paul 
started with Barnabas on his first journey from An- 
tioch, the Church " fasted and prayed and laid their 
hands on them and sent them away." When with 
Silas he started on his second, the Church prayed that 
God would guide and protect them. 

They first went northward through Syria; then 
around the northeastern extremity of the Mediter- 
ranean sea; then westward through Cilicia to Tarsus, 
Paul's childhood home. He revisited churches he 
had founded. With what glad surprise they must 
have welcomed his return. 



Paul's Second Missionary Journey 125 

At Lystra he would be at home once more with 
"Grandmother Lois"; and "Mother Eunice," prob- 
ably now a widow, and her young son Timothy 
called "the young disciple of Lystra." The fatherless 
youth must have felt tenderly toward the great apostle 
who spoke of him as "my son"; "my true son in 
the flesh " ; and of their relation being " as a son with 
a father." 

The hints we have of Timothy give us the idea of 
almost a perfect character. He seems to have been 
shy and timid, but this did not conceal his virtues 
from those who knew him in Lystra and Iconium. In 
a youth of sixteen or seventeen, when he probably 
became a Christian, they saw a model for young and 
old. He was still a young man when Paul revisited 
his home. The apostle saw his loving spirit, his 
faithfulness to duty, the courage blending with his 
modesty, his fitness to be a companion and helper. 
We do not wonder that it is said, "Him would Paul 
have to go with him." So, as Hannah lent her son 
Samuel to the Lord, and as the widowed Christian 
mother in Jerusalem gave her son John Mark to His 
work, Eunice gave the light of her home to cheer the 
lonely apostle and Silas as they went on their way to 
lighten the Gentiles. 

Before they started on their journey, the whole 
Church at Lystra assembled. In it Timothy made a 



126 The Life of St Paul 

public declaration of his faith in Christ, and was 
ordained for his new work. The elders of the Church 
and Paul laid their hands on him in solemn consecra- 
tion, and the "grace of the Holy Ghost descended like 
a flame into his heart." From that day and ever after 
rested on him Paul's benediction, " Unto Timothy my 
own son in the faith; Grace, mercy and peace from 
God our Father, and Jesus Christ our Lord." 

We may think of Paul once more in Antioch of 
Pisidia; and then among the heathen idolaters "in the 
regions of Galatia." Among the false gods worshiped 
was "Cybele, the mother of the gods." People be- 
lieved that a black stone which had fallen from the sky 
was her image. It may have been a meteorite — a mass 
of stone or iron such as sometimes falls from some un- 
known place to our world. Many Galatians in igno- 
rance and fear worshiped this idol instead of God Who 
made all things and all worlds — the True God Whom 
Paul had come to make known to them. He stayed in 
Galatia months, perhaps years. We do not know the 
exact time, nor the places that he visited. But from 
his own writings we learn that many turned from 
idolatry to the True God, and that many churches were 
founded by him. 

Paul was hindered in his journeying by a serious 
bodily affliction. We do not know of what kind it 
was. He wrote of a painful trouble which he had 



Paul's Second Missionary Journey 127 



many years. He called it "a thorn in the flesh." 
Some have thought this was a disease in his eyes, such 
as is common in the East, or that they were never well 
after his blindness in Damascus. This trouble may 
have greatly increased, or some other illness come 
upon him. His sufferings were very great and lasted 
a long time. No doubt Timothy tenderly nursed him 
"as a son with a father." Those who had become 
Christians did what they could for him in their grati- 
tude and love. He afterward wrote a letter to them in 
which he said something like this: "You know that 
when I preached the Gospel to you, I was taken very 
sick. My disease was such as to make me loathsome 
to you. You might have turned away from me in dis- 
gust and treated me as if you did not care for me. 
But this was not so: you were very kind, you treated 
me as if I were an angel. You were sorry because I 
was sick: yet you were glad to have my sickness keep 
me with you so long. I do believe that you love me 
so much that you would have been willing to pluck out I 
your own eyes and give them to me if that could make 
me well." 

When at last Paul was ready to leave Galatia, he 
was in great doubt where to go, but a revelation from 
God directed him to Troas without telling him where 
he should go from there. That city is situated at the 
northwestern extremity of Asia Minor on the /Egean 



128 The Life of St Paul 



sea, near the narrow Strait of the Dardanelles which 
separates Asia from Europe. The region of Troas is 
of deep interest to the student of history. Four miles 
from it lay the Plains of Troy. It was the scene of 
the Trojan War, the greatest in olden times. Ancient 
writers, especially the poet Homer, have caused it to 
be remembered through three thousand years. Read- 
ers and travelers think of its war horses and chariots, 
its armies and their leaders. But none were so great 
as the Apostle who on almost the same spot proclaimed 
the Gospel of the Prince of Peace. 

Right here we may stop long enough to be introduced 
to a companion of Paul of whom we have not spoken. 
We have noticed the apostle's serious illness in Galatia. 
He may not have recovered from the effects of it in Troas. 
Here we find him with a physician who becomes more 
than that to him. Next to Timothy, he is Paul's dear- 
est friend in his journeys, labors, trials, shipwreck and 
imprisonment. His name is Luke. It is through him 
as writer of the "Acts of the Apostles" that we get 
most of what we know of the Life of Paul. In the 
" Gospel of St. Luke," we have his story of Jesus 
Christ. Paul calls him "the beloved physician." As 
such he was a great help to the apostle in his journey- 
ings and sufferings. We may also believe that where- 
ever he went he ministered to the bodies of men 
while he sought to help their souls. So, besides the 



Paul's Second Missionary Journey 129 

name which Paul gave Luke, we may call him the first 
Medical Missionary. 

As Paul stood upon the shores of the Hellespont — 
now the Dardanelles — and thought of the power and 
glory which men had sought on the Plains of Troy, he 
thought of the power and glory of another kind which 
he sought, not for himself but for his Leader Jesus 
Christ, for Whose bidding he was waiting to tell him 
where next to go. 

Behind him was Asia, where he had preached Christ 
crucified and His Resurrection, and where Christianity 
had its beginning. Across the narrow strait was 
Mount Athos, nearly seven thousand feet high, his first 
sight of Europe, in which Christianity was unknown. 
Perhaps the lofty peak " seemed like some vast angel 
who beckoned him to carry the good tidings to the 
West." 

Across the /Egean sea was Macedonia, whose 
heathenism may have burdened his spirit when he laid 
his head upon his pillow. That was a memorable 
night in which as he slept he had a vision — no vague 
dream of mountain or angel, but the distinct figure of 
a Macedonian soldier standing on the opposite shore 
toward which he was looking before he went to sleep. 
Beckoning to him, the soldier cried, "Come over into 
Macedonia and help us." 

When morning dawned, Paul told his vision to his 



i3° 



The Life of St Paul 



companions. They understood its meaning as he did. 
Luke tells us that immediately they planned to go, 
feeling sure that the Lord had called them. " There- 
fore loosing from Troas," they crossed the A-gean sea, 
stopping first at the Island of Samothrace, whose lofty 
mountains were a land-mark to the Pagan sailors who 
looked upon them with awe. The next day they 
sailed to Neapolis, the harbor of Philippi, ten miles dis- 
tant. The apostle's ship carried Christianity from Asia 
to Europe. In time other ships bore it to America; 
and still other from both countries to other lands, even 
back to Asia where it started. The Macedonian cry 
still comes from all heathen lands to all Christians 
everywhere, as truly, though not in the same way, as it 
came to Paul in Troas. 



CHAPTER XXII 



Philippi 

Paul visited Philippi about twenty years after the 
death and resurrection of Christ. Though there was 
no Christianity in Europe, there were some who 
worshiped God in sincerity, and were ready to 
receive the Gospel of Christ when offered to theni. 
Paul found such in Philippi. No synagogue was 
there, but a place of worship, probably a rude en- 
closure open at the top, on the bank of the river 
Gaggitas. The worshipers were women only, be- 
lievers in the God of the Jews, but knowing little or 
nothing about Jesus Christ. They met Sabbath after 
Sabbath for prayer. On one of these days Paul and 
Silas came and "sat down and spake unto" them. 
One of these women was named Lydia. Her home 
was in the city of Thyatira. She was a seller of 
purple — a beautiful dye with which the richest gar- 
ments were colored. In her business, she spent part 
of her time in Philippi. Her "heart the Lord opened 
that she attended unto the things which were spoken 
by Paul." She not only carefully listened to his 
words, but believed what he said, becoming the first 

131 



132 



The Life of St Paul 



Christian in Philippi, and being baptized with her 
household. In gratitude and friendship for him and 
his companion, she invited them to be her guests 
while in the city. This was only the beginning of 
kindnesses he received from Philippian Christians. 
Four times they made him gifts when in need; one 
of them when he was a prisoner in a Roman dungeon. 
For many days Paul continued to teach and preach 
without any such trouble as he had in other places. 

There was a certain young woman who did and 
said strange things, in which ignorant people believed 
she was helped by a heathen god called Apollo. She 
made wild gestures and pretended to be a prophet 
telling of things that would happen. She had a mys- 
terious evil spirit. She was a slave whose owners 
received money for her foolish and deceitful doings. 

Paul and Silas continued to go to the riverside to 
meet the increasing numbers who wanted to see and 
hear them. The poor slave girl followed them again 
and again. She seems to have understood something 
about the apostles and their teaching. Day after day 
she cried out, "These men are the servants of the 
Most High God, which show unto us the way of 
salvation." 

This was true, but Paul feared that coming from her 
it would do no good. He also wanted to show that 
the Christian religion had more power than that which 



Paul Expelling the Evil Spirit from the Damsel of Philippi 

J. Opie 



Philippi 



133 



her masters pretended that she had. So Paul said to 
the evil spirit in her, "I command thee in the name of 
Jesus Christ to come out of her." " And he came out 
the same hour." 

Her masters were very angry because they could no 
more use her in getting money. So in revenge they 
complained that Paul and Silas were making trouble 
by preaching a new kind of religion. The apostles 
were not allowed to make any defence, nor to have 
any trial in which their innocence could be proved. 
The magistrates did as the slave's masters and the 
ignorant, excited mob demanded, giving order for the 
arrest of Paul and Silas. They were seized, rudely 
stripped of their garments, dragged to the whipping- 
post with their hands tied, and beaten with rods of 
elm-wood on their naked backs. Eight times do we 
find such shame and cruelty in the story of the life of 
Paul. 

"And when they had laid many stripes upon them, 
they cast them into prison, charging the jailer to keep 
them safely." He probably thought they were guilty 
of some great crime, and that the officers wished them 
to be very cruelly treated. So he rudely " thrust them 
into the inner prison " — the dark and loathsome dun- 
geon where not even the light of day could give a 
little cheer and comfort. It was probably one of 
those horrid cells well known throughout the Roman 



134 The Life of St Paul 

world where the inmates suffered from cold, and 
dampness which made their chains to rust, while they 
endured a living death. Adding to their torture, "he 
made their feet fast in the stocks. " This was a wooden 
instrument of torture having five holes — two for the 
wrists, two for the ankles, and one for the neck. The 
only pity the jailer seems to have shown was in using 
only those for the feet. The apostles had no hope of 
favor on the morrow from the unjust and merciless 
officers of the law, sleeping in their homes without 
thought of the wrong they had done to innocent men. 
The quiet of the prison was broken only by the tread 
of the sentinel — the needless guard of the stock-bound 
captives. Sleepless from torture they passed in lone- 
liness the early hours of the night. Yet they were not 
alone. As "the Lord was with Joseph " in the Egyp- 
tian prison, He was with them in the Philippian jail. 
At last they broke its silence. " At midnight Paul and 
Silas prayed and sang praises unto God," Who, as 
Job declared, "giveth songs in the night"; and Who, 
as the Psalmist said, "looked down from heaven to 
hear the groaning of the prisoner, to loose those that 
are appointed to death." 

Nor did God alone listen to their prayer and song, 
for "the prisoners heard them." Murderers, thieves, 
robbers and outcasts, supposing the newly-arrived 
prisoners to be like themselves, were roused from 




Paul and Silas in Prison From an old print 



Philippi 135 



their guilty slumbers, not by curses and profanity so 
often on their own lips, but by the voice of prayer, 
which perhaps they had never heard; roused, not by 
low and foolish songs, but probably by Psalms of 
David, as pleasing to God in the Philippian jail as in 
the Temple at Jerusalem. Paul and Silas could sing in 
their darkness as Fanny Crosby in her blindness — 

" This is my story, this is my song, 
Praising my Saviour all the day long." 

But, as if the day were not long enough, their song 
was continued in the midnight hour. It resounded 
along their prison walls, which were shaken to their, 
foundation, as if even they were startled by so strange 
an event. An earthquake shook the living tomb of 
the apostles, as did another that of the Lord to Whom 
they prayed and sang. Bolts and bars were such no 
longer because loosed from their sockets. The shat- 
tered prison doors flew open. The stocks could no 
longer hold fast the feet of the Apostles, nor chains the 
limbs of their fellow-prisoners. Yet none attempted 
to escape. As if awed by some mysterious presence, 
all remained in their cells; or, as we may suppose, 
soon gathered around the inner prison of the apostles. 

The keeper had been startled from his sleep. The 
earthquake that shook the prison wall made him 
quake with fear. He saw that the prison doors were 



136 The Life of St Paul 

open and took it for granted that the prisoners had 
fled. He knew that he would be disgraced, and that 
his life would be taken according to Roman law if a 
single prisoner escaped. In despair he drew his 
sword to take it himself. "But Paul cried with a 
loud voice, Do thyself no harm: for we are all here." 
But this did not give him peace: his conscience trou- 
bled him. Calling for a light, with a blazing torch in 
his hand, trembling with terror, he rushed into the 
dungeon and cast himself down before the Apostles. 
He rejoiced that he had been saved from threatened 
death of body, but there was another and greater dan- 
ger. He now believed what the poor slave girl had 
said, that these men were the servants of the Most 
High God, and showed the way of salvation. So he 
cried out, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 
" And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and 
thou shalt be saved and thy house." 

That was a strange midnight scene in the apostles' 
cell— so damp, dark, and cheerless; then bright with 
the flaming torch; the lone apostles suddenly with the 
little congregation of the jailer, his family and pris- 
oners, speaking unto them the word of the Lord. The 
jailer looked at Paul and Silas with a mingled feeling 
of sorrow, joy, pity, gratitude and love. "He took 
them the same hour of the night, and washed their 
stripes," which the day before had excited in him no 



The Conversion of the Jailer From an old print 



PhtUppt 137 

pity. The waters from the same fountain in the 
prison-court which were used for their cleansing and 
healing, also became the waters of baptism for him 
and his family. 

But the prison dungeon was no fit place for such 
"servants of the Most High God." The jailer had 
rudely "thrust them into the inner prison." Now he 
gently led them to his inner home, and "set meat be- 
fore them" in place of the prison fare, "and rejoiced, 
believing in God with all his house." Of all the fami- 
lies of Philippi at that midnight hour, the most blessed 
was that of him who has been known for two thou- 
sand years as the Philippian jailer. 

In the morning the magistrates were greatly trou- 
bled. They were superstitious, believing that earth- 
quakes were caused by their heathen gods because 
displeased with them. They also feared the Emperor 
Caesar when they learned that the men they had so 
cruelly treated without trial were Roman citizens, know- 
ing they were in danger of losing their offices for life. 
They wanted to hush up the matter and quietly send 
away the apostles. So they sent word to the jailer, 
"Let those men go," and he gladly delivered the mes- 
sage. But if they had gone without anything more 
being done, it might have been said that they fled at 
the time of the earthquake, or that they had bribed the 
jailer to let them escape. Great injustice had been 



138 The Life of St Paul 

done. So Paul and Silas refused to leave the prison 
simply because they were allowed to do so. Paul 
was a bold man as well as a Christian. He said of 
the magistrates, "They have beaten us openly uncon- 
demned, being Romans, and have cast us into prison; 
and now do they thrust us out privily ? Nay verily, 
but let them come themselves and fetch us out." 
And so as the jailer had brought them from the inner 
prison, the magistrates "came and brought them out" 
of the prison itself, thus confessing that they were 
wrong and the apostles right. Paul and Silas had no 
revengeful spirit: they did not complain to the em- 
peror of the men who had themselves broken Roman 
law. 

If they had left the prison without this confession 
of the magistrates, when Paul returned to Philippi it 
could have been said that he was the " pestilent fel- 
low" who escaped from jail. But when he did re- 
turn, he was known as the apostle whom God deliv- 
ered, and many believed the Gospel for which he had 
been so shamefully imprisoned. Peter, when deliv- 
ered from prison by the angel in Jerusalem, " came to 
the house of Mary the mother of John where many 
were gathered praying." Paul and Silas went out of 
prison and entered into the house of Lydia: and when 
they had seen the brethren, they comforted them and 
departed. 



PhtUppt 139 

Let us remember that Christianity in Europe began 
at Philippi, at a prayer-meeting of devout women 
only, who were in the habit of prayer, meeting every 
Sabbath; that the first person whose heart the Lord 
opened to believe the Gospel of Christ was a tender- 
hearted woman, and the second was a hard-hearted 
heathen jailer; that the first of all the sermons preached 
in Europe was in a rude hut, and the second in a 
prison; and last but not least let us remember the 
question asked by the jailer concerning salvation, and 
remember the most blessed answer given by Paul, the 
only one that can be given. 



CHAPTER XXIII 



AmphtpoUs — Thessalonica — Berea 

Paul left Philippi with the marks of brutal treatment 
on his body, yet with pleasing memories of the band 
to whom he had been a blessing and who had been 
such to him. Thirty-three miles brought him to Am- 
phipolis. It was beautifully situated three miles from 
the sea, bordering on a lake, sheltered by hills, and al- 
most encircled by a bend in a river. A neighboring 
plain, whose many streams made it fertile for cotton 
and corn, was almost covered with villages. There 
was no synagogue in Amphipolis or encouragement 
for preaching there. Paul and his company stayed a 
single night, then went thirty miles to Apollonia, and 
thence forty miles to Thessalonica, the capital of all 
Macedonia, to which the soldier in Paul's vision had 
beckoned him from Troas. It was a far-famed city. 
It was connected with many and distant places, being 
easily reached by roads and rivers and the sea; so that 
it was a great place for trade. It was a fitting place 
from which the Gospel could be sent in every direc- 
tion. Thus Paul felt when he wrote after leaving 
Thessalonica about the Christians there: "From them 

140 



St. Paul in the Synagogue at Thessalonica 



Gustave Dore 



Amphtpolts — Thessalonica — Berea 1 4 1 

the word of the Lord had sounded forth like a trumpet, 
not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place." 
There was one synagogue in it and that the only one 
in a vast region: in it Paul began his ministry. He 
was poor. For Christ he "suffered the loss of all 
things," including property. When ending his jour- 
ney at Thessalonica he was probably penniless; nor 
did he find it easy to earn his daily bread, especially as 
a great famine in that place at that time increased the 
price of wheat sixfold. Had he not been helped by 
the Philippian church, he would have suffered greatly. 
Like his fellow-Christians in Thessalonica, he was in 
deep poverty. He afterward wrote to them of these 
days when he was laboring night and day for his own 
support while he preached the Gospel unto them. The 
trade he learned when a boy in Tarsus was of great 
use to him in Thessalonica and other places. This 
great apostle was not ashamed of honest toil as he 
weaved goats' hair into tent-cloth in the house of Ja- 
son, a Jewish Christian with whom he had found 
lodging. 

After his persecution at Philippi only a few days be- 
fore, we might think he would be afraid to go to the 
synagogue in Thessalonica, and tell the same things 
that had maddened the Jews there. But he boldly en- 
tered it and for three Sabbath days explained the Old 
Testament Scriptures, which told about the coming of 



142 The Lfte of St Paul 

Christ to the world, and then showed that these things 
foretold had happened. He said, "This is the Messiah 
Jesus whom I am preaching to you." Some of the 
Jews believed this and united with the Church. So 
did "Greeks, a great multitude, and of chief women 
not a few." Most of them were Gentiles. Paul told 
them that as Christians they would suffer persecutions, 
but they were ready to follow his noble example in 
whatever trials might come. They gave up their 
heathen idolatry which could give them no real peace, 
and rejoiced in what Paul told them of the true God, 
and of Jesus Christ Who had risen from the dead, and 
with Whom they could live forever in heaven. This 
was very different from the Pagan teaching that there 
is no life after death, and that those who have loved 
each other on earth can never meet again. 

The Church in Thessalonica became noted for its 
faithfulness, love, and liberality. It was known as the 
model Church in Macedonia and Achaia. There were 
many women in it. They learned what Christianity 
can do for woman. We must remember that in those 
days and those countries woman was not treated as 
she is now in Christian countries. It has been truly 
said, " If man owes much to Christ, woman owes still 
more." 

Certain Jews in Thessalonica were very angry at 
Paul's preaching. Their rage was also increased by 



AmphipoUs — Thessalonka — Berea 1 43 

the influence he had over the leading women of the 
city who had become Christians. They gathered a 
mob of worthless idlers of the lower classes and stoned 
the house of Jason. Finding Paul and Silas absent., 
they seized him and other Christians and dragged 
them before the magistrates, who had the power of 
life and death, and falsely said that they were making 
great trouble and calling Jesus the king instead of 
Caesar, the Roman Emperor. The magistrates took 
money from the Christians as a pledge that they would 
act peaceably, and let them go. 

The city became quiet, but the Apostles were in 
much danger from the magistrates and the mob they 
could excite at any time. With sorrowful hearts, 
they determined to flee. As when Saul was in Dam- 
ascus, "the disciples took him by night and let him 
down by the wall in a basket"; so in Thessalonica, 
the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by 
night into Berea. In the darkness, seen only by Him 
to whom it is as the day, the two fugitives com- 
menced their journey of fifty miles in danger of pur- 
suit, along an unknown way which led them across 
large and flooded streams. Away from the strife of 
larger places, in the quiet and almost hidden town of 
Berea, among its gardens, streams and groves of palm 
and plane-trees, they hoped for a refuge for them- 
selves and the Gospel they carried. 



144 The Life of St Paul 

In this they were not mistaken. The storm in 
Thessalonica was followed by a calm in Berea. They 
went into the synagogue of the Jews. As in other 
synagogues, they wanted to prove that Jesus who had 
been crucified was the Messiah Whom the Old Testa- 
' ment Scriptures said would come. In those places 
the Jews denied this, and refused to compare what 
Paul said with what the Scripture said. This was the 
case in Thessalonica: but those in Berea "were more 
noble than those at Thessalonica in that they received 
the word with all readiness, and searched the Scrip- 
tures daily whether these things were so." They had 
the right spirit, listening attentively and then carefully 
studying the prophecies about Christ. They had not 
these sacred rolls in their homes. Such were kept in 
the synagogues and read on the Sabbath and at other 
times. 

We can imagine a most interesting scene when the 
audience was turned into a Bible class with Paul for 
the teacher, teaching about Jesus and what happened 
to Him; and then asking a Rabbi to turn to the places 
which told that these things would come to pass. 

We can imagine Paul saying, "Turn to Micah and 
see where the Messiah was to be born." The Rabbi 
takes that scroll from behind the curtain and reads, 
"Thou Bethlehem, out of thee shall come He that is to 
be ruler in Israel." Paul exclaims, "Jesus was born in 



Amphtpolis — Thessalonka — Berea 1 45 

Bethlehem." He then asks, " Out of what other coun- 
try should He be called ? What does Hosea say about 
it?" The Rabbi reads, "Out of Egypt have I called 
My Son." Paul exclaims, " That is just what happened 
to the infant Jesus." He then asks, "What wonder- 
ful things does Isaiah say the Messiah would do?" 
The Rabbi unrolls that scroll until he finds this proph- 
ecy, "The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the 
ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the 
lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb 
shall sing." Paul cries, "Jesus did just these things." 
The interest deepens and all begin to feel that "these 
things are so." 

But Paul is not yet done. He says, " In that same 
scroll, to what is the Messiah compared ?" The Rabbi 
reads, "He shall lead His flock like a shepherd, and 
gather the lambs in His arm." "Now," says Paul, 
"that is just what Jesus claimed to be saying, 'I am 
the good shepherd ' ; and no one has ever lived of whom 
this was so true." 

Paul then tells the Rabbi to take down the Psalms 
and see how the Messiah would be treated by the 
rulers. This is the record, "Rulers take counsel to- 
gether against the Lord." " So," says Paul, " they did 
in Jerusalem. He was betrayed to them. Please find 
in the Zachariah roll how much was to be paid for the 
betrayal." There it is written, "They weighed for 



146 The Life of St Paul 



My price thirty pieces of silver." Paul exclaims, " That 
is just the amount Judas paid them." 

We can almost hear the excited class exclaiming, 
" Wonderful! Wonderful and true! " They listen to 
the Apostle's next question, "What spirit would the 
Messiah show in all the cruel treatment He would re- 
ceive ?" Once more the words of Isaiah are examined 
until these are found, " He was oppressed and He was 
afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought 
as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her 
shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth." Paul 
declares, "That is the spirit of meekness which Jesus 
showed always and everywhere." 

"How was Messiah to die?" asks Paul, calling for 
the roll of the Psalms. The Rabbi reads, "They 
pierced My hands and My feet." "O Bereans," cries 
Paul, "this prophecy was fulfilled : Jesus Whom I preach 
was crucified. But His death is not the end of our 
study. Was He to remain in the grave and His body 
go back to the dust ? Rabbi, what did He say to God 
as recorded in a Psalm of David ? " With his hand 
trembling with excitement, the Rabbi finds the words, 
" Thou wilt not suffer Thy holy one to see corruption." 
Paul exclaims, "Jesus saw no corruption. He rose 
from the dead on the third day. It is especially because 
of His Resurrection that I believe Jesus was the Mes- 
siah." 



Amphtpolts — Thessalontca — Berea 1 47 

We have imagined only part of the subjects which 
the Bereans may have studied with Paul, as they 
" searched the Scriptures daily." These Berean Chris- 
tians are "noble" examples to all. This is why their 
name has been given to towns and schools and classes 
and courses of Bible study. We should remember that 
they had the Old Testament only, telling of what 
Christ was to be and do, while we have the New Tes- 
tament, telling what He has said and done. They had 
not the helps of our day for learning of Him. 

But Paul's quiet and happy stay in Berea was not 
long. His enemies in Thessalonica learning where he 
had gone and of the work he had done, followed him 
as hunters and dogs do their prey. The Bible class 
lost its teacher, who had once more to flee. Some of 
the converts went with him sixteen miles to the sea, 
where he took a ship which soon brought him in sight 
of a colossal statue of Minerva and her magnificent 
temple, which immediately reminded him of the heath- 
enism of Athens. 



CHAPTER XXIV 



Paul at Athens 

Thus far we have followed Paul over rugged moun- 
tains of grandeur which God had made. Now we en- 
ter with him a city whose beautiful works of art show 
how wonderful are the powers which God has given 
to the mind of man. We have seen him among ig- 
norant men; now we find him among those who are 
learned, but who have not the true wisdom which 
comes from God only. We have seen him rejoicing 
by the quiet riverside with the few women worship- 
ers of the one true God; now he is saddened by the 
multitude of worshipers of many false gods. We have 
seen him preaching Christ to a little company in an in- 
ner dungeon; now he preaches the same Gospel to 
unbelieving throngs. 

Paul's vessel landed at "the Piraeus," five miles 
from the city of Athens, whose gardens and theatres 
were the delight of sailors wearied with their voyages. 
Before Paul's day a narrow street with houses on both 
sides had stretched from the port to the city, protected 
by walls sixty feet in height having many towers. 

148 



Paul at Athens 149 

That was in the times of Athens' glory. But they had 
fallen into ruin. 

Entering the city, he saw multitudes of statues. 
Some were of men who had lived there, called the 
greatest of Greece. One of the most illustrious of 
these was Demosthenes. His statue, motionless and 
silent, stood on the very spot where the voice of the 
greatest Grecian orator used to be heard; but not 
speaking with the wisdom which God there gave to 
Paul. Then there were statues of warriors called 
great because of the battles they had fought, but with 
a spirit unlike that of the Apostle who there preached 
the Gospel of peace to all men. There were also 
statues of emperors, and of lawgivers, many of whose 
rules were good, but who understood not the com- 
mandments of Jesus Christ which Paul preached. 
But more than all there were statues of false gods 
called Neptune, Jupiter, Ceres, Minerva, Apollo, Mer- 
cury and the Muses. We have noticed that some of 
these were worshiped in the Cilician towns which 
Paul had already visited where the worship of them 
made the people exceedingly wicked. Athens was a 
city crowded with idols. Some were very old and 
some new; some of great size and some small; some 
of a single color and others of varied colors; statues 
of wood, earthenware, stone, marble, bronze, ivory 
and gold; statues in all sorts of positions and in every 



150 The Life of St Paul 

place. There were more statues in Athens than in all 
the rest of Greece. It has been said as almost a truth 
that it was easier to find a god in Athens than a man. 

The Agora, or market-place of the city, was a square, 
surrounded by temples and shaded porticos and shops 
and booths, for the sale of goods and slaves, and parch- 
ments on which was written what is now printed. 
The people found daily in the Agora were not all 
Athenians. Many had come from different parts of 
the world. Nor were they all there for trade. Some 
of them were idlers, simply wanting to hear the news. 
There were so many of this class that it is said, "All 
the Athenians and strangers which were there spent 
their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear 
some new thing." Some of them talked about the 
different kinds of religion — not Christianity; and some 
about philosophy — the things they thought very wise. 

Near the Agora was a rocky hill called the Acropolis. . 
The top of it was a museum of art — a place for the 
most beautiful buildings and images which made the 
Athenians remember and talk about their nation and 
their gods. The most magnificent building was the 
Parthenon, built of white marble to the honor of 
Minerva. Though now not perfect as it was in Paul's 
day, it is one of the most beautiful buildings in the 
world. Within was the statue of the goddess made 
of ivory and gold. Only one other in the world was 



Paul at Athens 151 

so noted — that of Jupiter Olympus. Both were made 
by the same noted artist Phidias. 

Paul says he was ''left alone at Athens "; he felt as 
any one does who is a stranger in a strange city. He 
was a Christian stranger in an idolatrous city. He 
longed for the companionship of Timothy and Silas 
who were still in Berea. But his loneliness was not 
the saddest thing: he was full of pity and sorrow be- 
cause "he saw the city wholly given to idolatry." 
There was a synagogue in Athens and he there first 
told the story of Jesus, but we do not know how the 
Jews treated him or it. His chief teaching was to be 
elsewhere. So we think of him as going to the Agora, 
joining one group and then another in the porticos or 
under the plane-trees, and talking to them of Jesus 
and the Resurrection. 

Some of the men with whom he met were called 
Epicureans. They did not believe in a Creator who 
wisely made all things, but that the world just hap- 
pened to be what it is. They thought earthly pleasure 
was the best thing, and that the soul and the body 
would die together. Some other men were called 
Stoics. They had better beliefs than the Epicureans. 
They believed in a god better and wiser than all other 
gods, who made all things and took care of them. 
They believed the soul would not die with the body, 
but they did not know what to. believe about the soul 



152 The Life of St Paul 

after death. They did not think as Christians do about 
sin, repentance, forgiveness and salvation. As Paul 
talked, some of the Epicureans and Stoics called him a 
babbler, trying to tell about things he did not under- 
stand. Others thought his teachings very strange and 
they would like to know more about them. So they 
proposed to have him go with them away from the 
crowded and noisy Agora to the quiet Areopagus, 
which was also called Mars Hill. Here they said to 
him, " May we know what this new doctrine whereof 
thou speakest is ? " 

He stood where the wisest of Grecian orators had 
spoken and been heard with interest and admiration. 
But Paul was greater than any of them because he 
had the wisdom from God. If we put his speech in 
simple form, it is something like this: 

''Ye men of Athens. I see that you take a great 
deal of interest in religion. You worship many gods. 
As I was going along the street I found an altar with 
these words on it — ' To the Unknown God.' I under- 
stand by these words that you think perhaps there is a 
god whom you ought to worship, but you do not 
know about him. Now there is such a God and I am 
here to tell you about Him. There are not many gods 
as you suppose, but one God. He is the Creator: He 
made the world and all things in it. He is the Maker 
and Lord of the heavens and earth, ruling everywhere 



Paul at Athens 153 



and everything. He is the Preserver of all things. 
He is everywhere. So He does not dwell in temples 
made with hands, like those in the city yonder, nor 
even in such a splendid temple as the Parthenon near 
which we are gathered. It is He who gives to all life, 
and breath, and all things. So He does not need any- 
thing you can give Him. All men of all nations in all 
parts of the world are His children. They are like 
one great family. From His throne in heaven He be- 
holds all that dwell upon the earth. You have been 
trying to find Him, though He is not far from every 
one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our 
being. We ought not to think that God is like these 
idols of which you have so many, made of gold and 
silver and stone graven by men. While men have 
been ignorant of Him, He has not punished them for 
not worshiping Him; but now He commandeth all 
men everywhere to repent. The day is coming when 
all men will be judged. God has appointed His Son 
Jesus to be the judge, Whom He had raised from the 
dead." 

When Paul spoke of the Resurrection from the 
dead, his speech was suddenly interrupted. Some 
laughed at the "babbler"; others turned away, not 
wanting to hear any more. 

Yet there were a few who believed his words. One 
was a man named Dionysius, and another was a 



154 The Life of St Paul 

woman named Damaris. Paul remained a little while 
and then " he left Athens as he had lived in it, a despised 
and lonely man." So far as we know, he was never 
in it again. Yet multitudes who do not know of nor 
care for the so-called great men who lived and died in 
that city, remember with great interest the short visit 
of Paul at Athens. 



CHAPTER XXV 



Paul at Corinth and the Second Journey Ended 

Leaving Athens Paul sailed for five hours among the 
islands of the Saronic bay to the seaport of Cenchrea, 
situated on low green hills amidst groves of pine. A 
walk of eight miles through a valley of cypress-trees 
brought him to Corinth, which for eighteen months or 
two years was to be his tarrying place. Its popula- 
tion was of varied kinds — Greeks and Romans, Jews, 
soldiers, sailors, slaves and those who had been freed, 
great merchants and small, and men who made money 
in shameful ways. Instead of the true and holy re- 
ligion of Christ which makes people better, they had a 
false and unholy religion which always made them 
worse. It was a city of drunkards and dishonest 
men, and those whose deeds shocked the pure mind 
of the Apostle. When good people in other places 
heard the name of Corinth, they thought most about 
its wickedness. 

No wonder if Paul asked, "Can the hearts of such 
people be changed from sin to holiness ? " This is the 
city to which he said he came " in weakness and in 
fear and in much trembling." He was suffering in 

155 



156 The Life of St Paul 

body and in mind. He was more lonely than even in 
Athens where he found less to sadden him than in 
Corinth. 

There was one class of things to which he often al- 
ludes in his writings. Corinth was noted for its 
games. Every year people came from all parts of 
Greece to witness them. They were held in a beauti- 
fully arranged race course called the stadium. There 
young men, active, strong, graceful and swift, con- 
tended in races and boxing-matches for the prize of a 
crown made of pine. There were also theatre shows 
and wild beast fights. Paul often compared things in 
the Christian life to these games and shows. Wicked 
men who persecuted him and other Christians were 
like wild beasts. Trying to be good and resisting sin 
through life was like running a race for a heavenly 
crown which does not fade like the one gained in the 
stadium. Any one can gain it. Paul said, "So run 
that ye may obtain." 

There are three places in Corinth where we find 
him. One of them is the house of a Christian couple, 
Aquila and his wife Priscilla. They had gone from 
Pontus in Asia to Rome, from which with other Jews 
they were banished by the emperor, and went to Cor- 
inth. In following their trade, they went from city 
to city as Paul did for preaching. Like him, wherever 
they went, as we find in following their history, they 



Paul at Corinth 157 

were known as Christian workers and helpers of other 
Christians. They were a most cheering and helpful 
couple, just such as Paul needed at this time in his 
loneliness, depression and discouragement. 

It happened that their trade was the same as his, 
tent-making. They took him into their home and 
gave him employment at which he worked day and 
night, sharing profits which were so small as hardly 
to supply daily needs. They and he were fellow- 
countrymen far away from Palestine, the land of their 
fathers; fellow-worshipers in the synagogue in Cor- 
inth; fellow-Christians whose companionship was to 
be most precious and helpful, and whose friendship 
was to continue as long as they lived. It was in their 
house that he unexpectedly found a home. It became 
the home of another kind, the meeting-place of Chris- 
tians for instruction and worship and friendship at a 
time when they were ridiculed and in danger of per- 
secution even unto death. In one of his letters Paul 
speaks of " Aquila and Priscilla with the church that 
is in their house." 

The second place to which we follow Paul in Cor- 
inth is the synagogue. The Sabbath has come. The 
haircloth and unfinished tents of Aquila, Priscilla and 
Paul have been laid aside; but not for idleness nor for 
the wicked pleasures of their idolatrous Gentile neigh- 
bors. As in other places, Paul tells "the old, old story 



158 The Life of St Paul 

of Jesus and His love," which is new to that company 
in the synagogue of Corinth. Most of the hearers are 
not ready to believe it and sing or say, 

" Tell me the story softly, 

With earnest tones and grave ; 
Remember I'm the sinner 
Whom Jesus came to save." 

But this was not true of all. Crispus, the chief ruler 
of the synagogue, believed on the Lord Jesus Christ 
with all his house. It greatly enraged the Jews that 
such a man of learning and position and influence 
should join the despised Christians. They feared that 
through Paul's preaching, others, both Jews and Gen- 
. tiles, would do likewise. He sadly wrote these words 
about them, "They please not God, forbidding us to 
speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved/' In 
fear and anxiety, he was ready to ask as he did near 
Damascus, "Lord, what will Thou have me to do?" 
The same Lord Who appeared to him there gave him 
another vision in which he heard a voice saying, 
" Fear not, but speak and hold not thy peace; for I am 
with thee and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee; 
for I have much people in this city." These were 
comforting and encouraging words. To add to his 
joy and strength, Timothy and Silas joined him. 

The third place where we find him is in a private 
house. Among those who heard and believed was 



Paul at Corinth 



»59 



Justus, whose house next door to the synagogue 
which Paul was compelled to leave, became his preach- 
ing-place. He seems to have still made his home with 
Aquila and Priscilla. He met all who would come to 
him in the house of Justus. He preached the same 
Gospel to them that he had to the learned men of 
Athens, but in a simpler manner so that they could 
easily understand. He believed what God had told 
him that He had much people in that city, and he was 
not disappointed. Jews and Gentiles, rich and poor, 
men of high rank like Gaius, and men of lowest — 
most of them probably slaves — heard and believed, 
and became the Church of Corinth. 

When Paul had been there nearly a year and a half, 
Gallio became the Roman governor of the Province of 
Achaia in which that city was located. He was a kind 
and gentle man called "the sweet Gallio." His 
brother Seneca, a noted Roman philosopher, said of 
him, " He was without a fault, whom every one loved 
too little, even he who loved him to the utmost." 

The Jews thought that Gallio was so easy and 
obliging that he would imprison Paul to please them. 
So they brought the Apostle before his judgment-seat 
with a false charge saying, "This fellow persuadeth 
men to worship God contrary to the law." But they 
were much mistaken in the new governor. He told 
them he had not come to settle their religious quar- 



i6o The Life of St Paul 



rels: such was not his business. Paul was about to 
defend himself, but Gallio said, " I will be no judge of 
such matters." Then he drove Paul's false accusers 
from his judgment-seat and allowed him to remain a 
while longer in Corinth in safety. So was fulfilled 
the vision promise, "No man shall set on thee to hurt 
thee." Gallio little thought that this scene was the 
only one in his life in which men would be interested; 
and that he would be remembered, not for his own 
sake, but for that of the innocent prisoner before his 
judgment-seat. 

When Paul was in Corinth, he wrote two letters to 
Christians in Thessalonica. They are what are known 
as the First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians, 
the first letters in the New Testament. 

Nearly three years had now passed since Paul had 
been in Jerusalem. He planned going there, reaching 
it in time to attend a feast, probably the Pentecost. 
There he would again meet the Apostles and the 
Mother Church to whom he could tell the long story of 
his journeys and labors and persecutions and successes, 
in the heathen cities of Asia Minor and Greece. So 
Paul bid farewell, which must have been a sad one, to 
.the Christians in Corinth. Taking with him Aquila 
and Priscilla, he went to the seaport of Cenchrea. 
One of the few disciples here was Phcebe, a wealthy 
widow, a deaconess for whom Paul had great regard 



Paul at Corinth 



161 



because of her goodness and her help to him and to 
the Church. He afterward commended her as a wise 
and trusted leader in Christian work. 

A few days brought Paul's company including Silas 
and Timothy, and Titus — of whom we now hear for 
the first time — to Ephesus on the western coast of 
Asia Minor. From there they sailed to Csesarea and 
hastened to Jerusalem. This was Paul's fourth visit to 
the Holy City since his conversion. After a little time 
with the Church there, he went to Syrian Antioch, 
thus completing his Second Missionary Journey. 



CHAPTER XXVI 



Beginning of Paul's Third Missionary Journey 
— Ephesus 

In trying to follow Paul in his Third Missionary Jour- 
ney, we cannot do it as closely as we did in his first 
and second. We know that he went through Galatia, 
the eastern region of Asia Minor, and through Phrygia, 
its central part, to its western extremity on the coast 
of the /Egean sea. At last by land he reached the 
city of Ephesus, from where we saw him sail for Je- 
rusalem at the close of his Second Journey. This city 
w r as a mile from the sea, on a winding river now known 
as Little Mseander. The stream watered a vast meadow, 
alive with countless flocks of swans and other water- 
fowl. Neighboring mountains gave a pleasing con- 
trast to sea and plain. The haven of Ephesus was one 
of the safest and most convenient of the Mediterranean. 
By great roads the city was reached from distant 
places. Trade by sea and land was great and of many 
kinds. It was like that other city of which St. John 
had a vision. He tells of " merchandise of gold, and 
silver, and precious stones, and pearls, and fine linen, 
and purple, and silk, and scarlet; and all thyine-wood, 

162 



Paul's Third Missionary Journey 163 

and every vessel of ivory, and every vessel made of 
most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and mar- 
ble; and cinnamon, and spice, and incense, and oint- 
ment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine 
flour, and wheat, and cattle, and sheep ; and merchan- 
dise of horses and chariots and slaves, and souls of 
men." 

Ephesus was a centre of wickedness. To it came as 
to a fitting place multitudes of criminals — robbers and 
murderers from all the country round, escaping the just 
punishment of their crimes. The Ephesians were idol- 
aters. The worshipers in the synagogue were almost 
alone in their thoughts of a God who is holy, just and 
wise. When the people visited the beautiful cypress 
and olive groves, they did not think of Him Who had 
made them beautiful; but of the wonderful, untruth- 
ful stories of what Pagan gods had there done. Paul 
saw much to excite his sorrow, pity and indignation in 
the streets of Ephesus, as they had been excited in the 
streets of Athens. He was compelled to hear the harsh 
music of shrill flute and jangling timbrels mingled with 
the noisy shouts of revelry. He saw the shameful 
dances and processions led by Pagan priests, wretches 
with streaming hair and wild cries, shaking their 
torches of pine, and inciting men to the vilest deeds. 

The city itself was called "the most magnificent of 
the magnificent cities of Asia." It had a wonderful 



164 The Life of St Paul 

history of which we cannot here tell. But we must 
speak of that which was called its chief glory. 

When Paul on his second tour approached Ephesus 
by sea, he saw from afar a glittering object like a star 
shining above the city; and now as he came toward 
the city by land in the opposite direction the same 
brilliant beauty rose before him a second time. It was 
the temple of the goddess Diana. A former one had 
been burned by Herostratus, an Ephesian whose fool- 
ish pride made him do even a mean thing that his 
name might find a place in history. "Verily he hath 
his reward" — a poor one indeed. He did it on the 
night of the birth of Alexander the Great: but neither 
name tells of true greatness such as belongs to Paul. 

The Ephesians wanted to rebuild the temple in great 
grandeur with marble, for which they were in search. 
This beautiful stone was near by, but the quarry had 
long been hidden in Mount Prion. On it one day a 
shepherd named Pixodorus was feeding his flock. 
Two of his rams were fighting. One of them rushing 
upon his enemy with great force missed him and 
struck his horn through the turf and hit something 
white. The shepherd saw that he had discovered a 
bed of marble. He ran with a piece of it to the city 
and showed his prize. He received a reward for his 
discovery, and at his death honors such as the people 
gave to their gods. And so the marble, which God 



Temple of Diana at Ephesus From a Roman 

Showing in the interior the image of the goddess 
which had fallen from heaven 

From Bible Illustrations, copyright by Henry Frowde, 1896. 



Paul's Third Missionary Journey 165 

had made pure and white — reminding us of His holi- 
ness — was used in building a temple for unholy wor- 
ship to an idol. 

In the planning and building of it, the wisest archi- 
tects were employed. The cost was very great: so 
was the interest in it. Countries around sent large 
sums of money. Women of Ephesus sold their jewels 
to honor their goddess. One generation after another 
watched its building, until the seventh-saw its comple- 
tion, at the end of two hundred and twenty years. It 
was not only the crowning glory of Ephesus, but was 
known as one of the Seven Wonders of the world — 
well deserving the name. In size it was immense, 
being four hundred and twenty-five feet in length and 
two hundred and twenty in breadth. There was a 
row of one hundred and twenty-seven columns of 
marble, each weighing one hundred and fifty tons, and 
each the gift of a king. Thirty-six of them were beau- 
tifully carved and colored. Part of the temple was 
open to the sky. The roof was made of cedar, sup- 
ported by columns of green jasper which rested on 
marble bases. On these pillars were hung gifts of 
priceless value. They were votive offerings promised 
to the goddess Diana because the ignorant donors be- 
lieved she had blessed them in some special way. 

The entrance was by folding doors made of cypress 
wood ornamented with carving. The staircase leading 



166 The Life of St Paul 



to the roof is said to have been cut from a single vine 
from the Island of Cyprus. Within the temple were 
decorations of cedar, cypress, gold, jewels and pre- 
cious stones; carved by the most skilful artists. There 
were pictures by the greatest Grecian painters. One 
of these by Apelles was a likeness of Alexander the 
Great, claimed to be equal in value to nearly $200,000. 
Among the statues was one made of pure gold. The 
Ephesians were always adding new decorations to 
their temple, especially statues and pictures. 

At one end of the temple stood an altar adorned by 
the chisel of the great Greek sculptor Praxiteles. Be- 
hind it hung a rich purple curtain in many folds. . Be- 
hind the curtain was the idol room, which to the 
worshipers of Diana was like the Holy of Holies in the 
Jewish Temple at Jerusalem. Behind the idol room 
was another believed to be under the protection of the 
goddess, and so the safest place in the world for any 
amount of riches. Within it were kept the treasures 
of Western Asia. 

The Ephesians claimed that the idol was an image 
that fell down from heaven. How different this from 
the declaration of Jesus, "I came down from heaven. 
I came forth from the Father and am come into the 
world." 

It is uncertain of what material the image was 
made, whether of vine-wood or ebony or stone. In 



Diana of the Epiiesians 
A Roman variation of the image which 
had fallen from heaven 
From Bible Illustrations, copyright by Henry Frowde, 1896. 



Paul's Third Missionary Journey 167 

appearance it was much like that of many idols wor- 
shiped now in the pagodas in India. Under each 
hand was a bar of metal — some say of gold and some 
of iron — to keep the image from tottering and falling 
upon her worshipers instead of their falling before 
her. She was gaily dressed, with a crown on her 
head and a girdle around her waist. Such was Diana, 
called the patron goddess of the Ephesians — the parent 
to whom like children they looked for support, pro- 
tection and help of every kind. 

The Ephesians were a superstitious people, full of 
wonder and having the fear of what they did not un- 
derstand, especially concerning the gods, whom they 
believed to be real. On the crown, girdle and feet of 
the image Diana were engraved curious letters which 
her worshipers did not understand, but on which they 
looked with awe, believing them to be very wise and 
powerful. These " Ephesian Letters "as they were 
called were copied upon rolls of parchment and worn 
as charms to protect from all kinds of evil. Many 
large books or scrolls were written pretending to ex- 
plain the secret meaning of these letters, and were 
sold at a great price. Gems and ornaments were also 
worn to keep off evil and mischief and disease. 

This superstition of the people made it easy for 
them to be deceived by impostors — men who pre- 
tended to be what they were not, and to know and do 



i68 The Life of St Paul 

what they could not. There were astrologers — men 
who studied the stars, not learning and teaching the 
wisdom and glory of God therein, but claiming to 
know how the stars influenced the lives of men. 
There were sorcerers — men claiming power to com- 
mand evil spirits by their songs and speeches and 
mysterious motions. There were deceivers of all 
kinds claiming hidden wisdom which none others 
possessed. All these men had great power over the 
people and so enriched themselves. Not only were 
the lowest people deceived, but those of the highest 
classes. 

Between Paul's visit to Ephesus on his second jour- 
ney and his present one, something had happened 
which became of great interest to him. There was a 
Jew of Alexandria named Apollos who was learned in 
the Old Testament Scripture, and was a very eloquent 
man. He believed the most important thing which 
John the Baptist had taught about Jesus telling men to 
" behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin 
of the world." But Apollos did not understand per- 
fectly what Christ Himself had taught. Being in 
Ephesus, he went into the synagogue and spoke of 
John's teaching. Priscilla and Aquila, who we re- 
member went with Paul to Ephesus on his former 
visit, remained there while he went to Jerusalem. So 
they had the opportunity of hearing Apollos in the 



Paul's Third Missionary Journey 169 

synagogue. They were greatly interested in him, and 
invited him to their house and explained "unto him 
the way of God more perfectly." He was as ready to 
learn as they were to teach him. He was better pre- 
pared than before to speak in the synagogue of Jesus 
the Messiah, Who, since the preaching of John the 
Baptist, had spent three years in teaching, had done 
His wonderful works, had died, risen, and ascended 
to heaven. 

On Paul's return to Ephesus and so to Aquila and 
Priscilla, he met their new friend Apollos who became 
the Apostle's friend also, a companion first admired 
and then greatly loved. 

Beside Apollos there were twelve men in Ephesus, 
perhaps under his instruction, who had also been dis- 
ciples of John. They knew nothing of the Holv Spirit 
promised by Christ and given to Christians after He 
left them. Paul taught these good men who knew so 
little "more perfectly," as Aquila and Priscilla had 
taught Apollos. They gladly accepted Paul's teaching, 
and received the Holy Spirit by whose aid they did 
much for Christ of Whom they had known so little. 



CHAPTER XXVII 



Trials and Triumphs in Ephesus 

When Paul began to preach in the synagogue, 
which he was allowed to do three times a week if he 
wished, he was kindly received and his words made 
a good impression. But after three months the Jews 
changed their manner toward him — opposed, rejected 
and reviled him. He hired a schoolhouse and com- 
menced daily worship for Christians and all who 
would attend. 

We are told that " God wrought special miracles by 
the hands of Paul." There was a "special" kind. 
Articles of his dress — handkerchiefs which he had 
used, and aprons he had worn when working at his 
trade — were carried to the sick. We do not know 
whether or not this was done with Paul's permission; 
but we do know that the same power that healed the 
woman who touched the hem of Jesus' garment, 
healed these sick also. God, through His Apostle, 
showed a real power which the pretended miracle 
workers could not have. Paul made the people under- 
stand that what he did was in the name of Jesus. 

There were seven brothers that went from place to 

170 



St. Paul at Ephesus Git stave Bore 



Trials and Triumphs in Ephesus 171 



place saying that they could cast out evil spirits. At- 
tempting to appear equal to Paul, they commanded an 
evil spirit to come out of a raving maniac, "by Jesus 
Whom Paul preached." The evil spirit in a loud voice 
called out, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who 
are you ? " The man, in the strength of his madness, 
leaped upon them, tore off their clothes, and drove 
them from the house wounded and terrified. 

Many other deceivers were alarmed. Among these 
were some who professed to be Christians, yet had 
been selling curious things such as the books that pre- 
tended to explain the hidden meaning of the " Ephe- 
sian Letters." They came to Paul confessing their 
wrong. They showed their true repentance and pur- 
pose not to do so any more by bringing their books 
together and burning them. This was hard for them 
to do because they thus lost their trade. These books 
or scrolls were perhaps the most valuable things the 
men owned. Over $10,000 worth was destroyed in 
that bonfire in the presence of Paul. 

About this time Paul formed the purpose of making 
another visit to Jerusalem and then going to Rome. 
He was to carry out that plan, but in circumstances 
very different from what he then imagined, as we 
shall see. 

The month of May was called "the Month of 
Diana," because during the whole of it there was held 



172 The Life of St Paul 



every year a great festival in her honor. As the 
temple of Diana was called the " temple of Asia," this 
festival was called "the common meeting of Asia." 
From regions near and far came multitudes of men 
with their wives and children to this festival gathering 
for idolatrous worship and amusement. 

Every year there were chosen ten men as presidents 
of the games. They were from the wealthiest and 
most noted men of the chief cities of Asia. They 
watched the games to see that everything was done 
fairly and justly, and to keep order in the theatre. 
They wore robes of purple or pure white, or of silk 
with golden threads, and were crowned with garlands 
or crowns set with carbuncles and pearls. Their names 
were placed on coins. They paid vast sums of money 
for the entertainment of the people. This they were 
willing to do in turn for being honored as "the chief 
men of Asia." The entertainments were in different 
places and of different kinds. In the theatre were con- 
certs and shows; in the hippodrome horse-racing; in 
the stadium gymnastic games of running, leaping and 
wrestling. There were noisy scenes through the day 
and night. In every hour of the day there were gay 
processions to the temple, following the bleating 
animals crowned with garlands, being led to sacrifice. 
Idlers and drunkards could be seen almost everywhere 
at any time. The harbor was crowded with hun- 



Trials and Triumphs in Ephesus 173 

dreds of vessels that had themselves been crowded 
with pilgrims and seekers after pleasure. The waters 
were alive with gaily painted small boats. From the 
heights of the neighboring Mount Prion sight seekers 
looked down on the plains covered with goats' hair 
tents of the strangers, and on the shifting panorama of 
sea and land. The shops and bazaars were filled with 
all the attractive things of those days which parents 
and friends would buy for themselves and those left 
in the distant homes. The special mementos would 
be little models of Diana and her shrine. The poorest 
of the purchasers would buy those made of wood; 
others those of silver; and the wealthy those of gold. 

In contrast with all this was one place in Ephesus 
of different scenes, and one man of different purpose. 
That place was the schoolhouse near the synagogue, 
and that man was Paul. For two years he had 
preached in it to the little company who had followed 
him from the synagogue when he could- preach there 
no longer. Large numbers had heard him and the 
church had increased in numbers. Many saw the folly 
and wickedness of idolatry. They believed what Paul 
had said to the Athenians that God is not "like unto 
gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's de- 
vice." They lost their interest in Diana, her temple 
and her idols, and would waste no more money or 
labor in serving her. Among them were some of the 



174 The Life of St Paul 

wealthiest people from whom the makers and sellers 
of idols had made great gain, especially in the " month 
of Diana." So these Gentile dealers became what the 
Jews already were, enemies of Paul. 

Then "there arose no small stir" about Paul and his 
Christian work. A master manufacturer and seller of 
idols, named Demetrius, determined to do what he 
could to stop it. He called together others of the same 
business and made them a speech. He told them first 
of the danger to their trade; then, as we may suppose, 
pointing his finger to the temple in sight, he tried to 
excite them by saying that the great goddess was in 
danger; and that she would be despised and her mag- 
nificence destroyed because Paul had "persuaded and 
turned away much people saying that there be no gods 
which are made with hands." This speech had the 
effect intended. The meeting became greatly excited. 
" When they heard these things they were filled with 
wrath, and cried out saying, Great is Diana of the 
Ephesians." Their numbers were increased from the 
theatre, the hippodrome, the stadium, the street, the 
bazaars and the homes. "The whole city was filled 
with confusion." 

Not finding Paul, who was probably concealed by 
Aquila and other Christians, they caught two of his 
companions, Gaius and Aristarchus, and dragged them 
to the theatre. Paul would have gone himself, ready 



Trials and Triumphs in Ephesus 175 

to testify for Christ, but his friends wisely kept him 
from the maddened mob who were ready to murder 
him with their own hands, or to thrust him among the 
wild beasts to certain destruction. 

The Jews wanted to show that they hated Paul as 
much as did the Gentiles. So they put forward "Alex- 
ander the coppersmith " — a Jew — to speak against the 
Apostles. But his voice was drowned in the repeated 
cry, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians." This was 
continued for two hours until the town clerk, an im- 
portant officer, appeared and quieted the throng by 
saying that the goddess Diana was so great that these 
Jewish strangers could not harm her. He reminded 
them that trouble might come upon the city from the 
Roman government for such a tumult. " And when 
he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly." 

Though Paul escaped death, he was still in danger. 
The man who could excite more interest than even 
that in the great festival, and could diminish a trade in 
the city, was to be feared and persecuted. He says he 
was delivered from " so great a death," but we do not 
know of what kind, or how he escaped. It was im- 
possible for him to continue in Ephesus. He called the 
disciples together, spoke to them words of comfort in 
their trials, and bade them farewell. It is not certain 
that he ever visited the city again. 

We have called Jerusalem the first capital of Chris- 



176 The Life of St Paul 

tianity and Antioch the second — cities from which the 
Gospel news was carried to other places. Ephesus 
was the third capital, made so especially from Paul's 
short journeys from there during the three years he 
made it his home. That was an eventful period in his 
life. His ministry in Ephesus was constant and full of 
labors; first in the synagogue, then in the schoolhouse, 
then from house to house visiting individual members 
of the Church, checking them in wrongdoing and en- 
couraging them in right. He was the earnest preacher 
and faithful pastor. The result was the large church 
of Ephesus. 

That was also the most trying and sorrowful period 
of Paul's life. It is hard to follow him through his 
days of toil. We can only imagine what he endured. 
He labored at his trade for his own support that he 
should not be a burden to his fellow-Christians while 
working for his Lord. But his two kinds of work 
were a heavy burden on him, even when not increased 
by illness, to which he was subject. But worse than 
all were the persecutions. We know some of them 
and have hints in his letters of many others. He had 
trouble from Jews and Pagans and even some who 
called themselves Christians. Soon after leaving Cor- 
inth, in his First letter to the Corinthian Church, he 
wrote a long list of trials, many of which it is sup- 
posed he had during the years he made Ephesus the 



Trials and Triumphs in Ephesus 177 

centre of his mission work. Here it is : "in labors more 
abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more 
frequent, in deaths oft; of the Jews five times received 
I forty stripes save one, once was I stoned, thrice I suf- 
fered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been on the 
deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in per- 
ils of robbers, in perils by my own countrymen, in 
perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in 
the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among 
false brethren, in weariness and painfulness, in watch- 
ings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in 
cold and nakedness: besides those things that are with- 
out, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all 
the churches." 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

The Church and City of Ephesus in Glory and 
Fall 

Paul is not the only Apostle of whom we think when 
we read the story of Ephesus. 

"Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother. 
When Jesus therefore saw His mother and that dis- 
ciple standing by whom He loved, He saith unto His 
mother, Woman, behold thy son. Then saith He to 
the disciple, Behold thy mother. And from that hour 
that disciple took her unto his own home." If that 
disciple-son and that mother continued together during 
her life, that home was at last, according to tradition, 
in Ephesus; and here to the last he was faithful to the 
sacred trust committed to him on far-distant Calvary. 
Their graves with that of Paul's beloved Timothy make 
sacred some spot now hidden in the tangled thickets 
on Mount Prion as it looks down on the most hallowed 
home spot that Ephesus ever contained. In it John 
probably wrote his Gospel which alone records the 
tender words of the cross concerning the mother and 
son. 

In Ephesus Paul planted, Apollos watered, and God 

178 



Ephesus in Glory and Fall 179 

gave the increase which John gathered into a large 
and flourishing church. Christian temples were built 
almost rivaling in splendor those of Paganism. Cen- 
turies passed and Mohammedan mosques took the 
place of Christian Churches. The name of Jesus was 
despised as in the days when Paul first proclaimed it. 
John, when an exile on Patmos, was told by the Spirit 
of God to write unto the bishop of the church at 
Ephesus, reproving them for having left their first love 
of the Saviour, and warning them of trouble and sor- 
row if they did not repent. The sad prophecy was 
fulfilled. The day came when no Aquila or Priscilla, 
no Gaius or Aristarchus, no Paul or John, no one bear- 
ing the name of Christ was found to tell of Him. The 
splendid Christian temple built in the days of John 
crumbled, and nothing to-day tells even where it 
stood. 

Such is the sad tale of proud Ephesus itself. Re- 
versed is the proverb, "The desert shall rejoice and 
blossom as the rose," for the rose — the beautiful 
flower of Asia — has faded and died where all is desert 
now. Diana, the patron goddess, proved herself a 
poor parent, unable to protect her children from harm 
and destruction. Two hundred years after Paul's 
visit, the Goths — an ancient destructive race, — con- 
quered them and seized the riches that had been en- 
trusted to her keeping. Could Paul visit the place 



i8o The Life of St Paul 

to-day he would gaze in astonishment at the ruins of 
what he beheld in glory. Columns have fallen on the 
vaulted chambers over which they were built. There 
the gleaming torch of the traveler startles the bat in its 
darkened home. He can hardly find the streets of 
Ephesus in the tangled bushes that have overgrown 
them. Goats find shelter where men thronged be- 
neath the open sky. The noisy flight of raven flocks 
breaks the stillness above, while below the partridge 
broods in silence in the theatre and stadium where 
multitudes raised the .shout of pleasure and triumph. 
The quarries are deserted: the marks of the tools alone 
tell of the toil of workmen long ago. Even the sea 
has shrunk from the scene of desolation. Where the 
waves once rolled tossing the ships full of life, the 
flat morass is covered with rushes. In the mosque of 
St. Sophia in Constantinople, are eight of the Jasper 
columns that once stood in the now ruined temple, 
still beautiful in themselves, yet as if telling the story 
of Diana's fall and mocking Ephesian glory. 

The architect of the theatre in Ephesus planned an 
arch which so pleased himself that on a stone he 
placed an inscription, asking the beholder to notice his 
device even though he did not the sports of the the- 
atre. That inscription has been found among the 
ruins where there is no arch to admire. Alexander 
offered a great reward if his name might be inscribed 



Ephesus in Glory and Fall 181 

on the temple. Paul sought no such glory, but that 
which cometh from God only. To him it happened 
as God promised, " Him that honoreth Me I will 
honor." In him, as also- in John who recorded it, is 
fulfilled the promise, ''To him that overcometh will I 
give a white stone, and in the stone a new name 
written." 



CHAPTER XXIX 



Philippi and Corinth Revisited 

From Ephesus, Paul went to Troas where on his 
former visit he had the vision of a man calling him to 
Macedonia, to which he now returned. For a time 
there is some uncertainty about the order of his jour- 
ney and just where he went, but we know some of 
the places he visited. One of these was Philippi. 
The church there had shown him more kindness and 
given him less trouble than any other. While he had 
to reprove other churches for some wrong things, he 
never did this one. Its members were poor; yet at 
three different times they urged him to take money 
they had collected for his support while preaching in 
other places. It has been called his most loved 
church. 

While in Philippi, he could not forget the things of 
six years before — the lictors' rods, the stocks, the dun- 
geon, the midnight songs, the earthquake, the jailer's 
cry, his conversion and cruelty and kindness, and the 
release from prison. 

We do not know how far Paul went on this journey: 
perhaps it was to the Gulf of Adria. We find him 

182 



Philippi and Corinth Revisited 183 

again in.Corinth. As he looked on its towering citadel, 
and entered its harbor and well-known gates, he must 
have remembered with deep feeling his arrival there 
on his first visit. He had then just come from Athens 
with a sad spirit because he had been able to do so lit- 
tle in the "city given to idolatry." In Corinth there 
had not been a single Christian to greet him : he was 
alone and friendless: but now he had a welcome from 
Gaius whom he had baptized and hundreds of others 
professing the name of Jesus. It is true that some of 
them had found it hard to change their heathen habits 
and be faithful followers of Christ, but of many it 
was true that "old things had passed away and all 
things had become new." Here Luke and Timothy 
gladdened his spirit; so did others whose names were 
becoming familiar to the churches as workers together 
with Paul. 

Yet in Corinth he was saddened by news from Gal- 
atia that some were speaking against him, saying that 
he was not an apostle because not one of the twelve 
appointed by the Lord Jesus; and were turned away 
from the simple truth of Christ which Paul had taught. 
It was then that he wrote his Epistle to the Galatians. 
In it he claimed that he was "an Apostle by Jesus 
Christ" Himself. He was more saddened by their 
forsaking Christ than their forsaking him, their once 
loved and trusted teacher. He told them not to be- 



184 The Life of St Paul 

lieve him "or an angel from heaven" if he preached 
anything different from what Christ had taught. 

The Epistle to the Galatians was not the only one 
Paul sent from Corinth. He had never been in Rome, 
but a Christian Church had been founded there, by 
whom we do not know. There is no history or tradi- 
tion concerning the church which was to become one 
of the most important in the history of Christianity. 
Probably the first members were converts from the 
synagogue in Rome, or those who had been converted 
in Palestine and then moved to Rome, or some who 
had been present at the Pentecost when "three thou- 
sand were converted," among whom were "strangers 
of Rome." 

Paul was not unknown to the church there. We 
know of his acquaintance with two whole families 
besides twenty-six other persons, whom he had prob- 
ably met in Corinth, Ephesus and elsewhere. His in- 
terest in them was so great that he formed the plan of 
visiting them after he had been to Jerusalem and was 
on his proposed way to Spain. 

While in Corinth, he wrote his Epistle to the Ro- 
mans. We may think of him as seated in, or walking 
about a quiet room in the house of Gaius, now glanc- 
ing upward to the mountain-tops, now downward 
upon the waters of the Ionian sea, and now on the 
parchment where Tertius is writing down as he is told 



PhtUppt and Corinth Revisited 185 

the greatest thoughts of the greatest Apostle. The 
letter is about Christian doctrine, that which the reli- 
gion of Christ teaches us to believe; and Christian 
practice, that which the religion of Christ teaches us 
to do. Chrysostom — the noted Christian father and 
teacher — called the Epistle to the Romans "the golden 
key of the Scriptures." In it Paul's great subject is 
"Justification by Faith" which means our being 
treated as righteous by believing in the Lord Jesus 
Christ. Those three words are full of meaning, of 
which the young reader may know something, and 
which the oldest and wisest may study all their days. 

In Paul's letter he says, "I commend unto you 
Phoebe, our sister," the Christian lady of Cenchrea. 
By her he sent to Rome his letter which must have 
been a great joy to those who knew and loved him, 
and little less to those who loved though they had 
never known him. He loved them all, proving it by 
saying to them all, "Without ceasing I make mention 
of you always in my prayers." 



CHAPTER XXX 

Fifth and Last Journey to Jerusalem 

It was Paul's purpose to leave Corinth and sail from 
Cenchrea to Palestine as soon as he could get a ship 
going thither. Rome was still in his mind, but he 
must visit Jerusalem first, carrying with him the col- 
lections made in Macedonia and Achaia for the poor 
Christians in the Holy City. He knew he was in danger 
from his enemies, and before being able to leave Cor- 
inth, he learned of a plot to slay him, like that in Da- 
mascus, and also in Jerusalem where still another 
awaited his coming. So he changed his route and 
hastened by land to Philippi, accompanied by several 
Christians as a bodyguard who have been called the 
"first Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land." 

Paul and Luke lingered at Philippi while the rest of 
the company sailed for Troas, to which the two came 
in a few days. Paul remained there a week. The 
last day was the Sabbath. In the evening the dis- 
ciples were gathered for a farewell meeting as Paul 
was to depart on the morrow. It was held in an up- 
per room in the third story — the coolest and pleasant- 
est part of houses in eastern countries. As the 
weather was warm, the windows were open. On 

186 



Paul Raising Eutychus to Life From an old print 



Fifth and Last Journey to Jerusalem 187 

the sill of one of them sat a lad named Eutychus. We 
may think of him as a young Christian so anxious to 
hear Paul preach that he remained hour after hour un- 
til midnight, trying to keep awake through the long 
sermon which very likely he could not understand, 
but from which he could learn something. We can 
imagine Paul's eye upon his as he nodded and his 
head fell upon his breast, and he fell down into the 
courtyard below. "There were many lights in the 
upper chamber." As it was three weeks since the 
full moon there was darkness where he lay. The ser- 
mon was suddenly interrupted. There was great ex- 
citement and anxiety for the lad who " was taken up 
dead." As Jesus said when the daughter of Jairus lay 
dead, "Why make ye this ado and weep? The 
damsel is not dead but sleepeth; " so Paul said to the 
friends of Eutychus, " Trouble not yourselves, for his 
life is in him." As Elisha " stretched himself upon 
the child of the Shunamite and the dead came to life" ; 
so when the lad of Troas had fallen, "Paul went 
down and fell on him and embracing him" received 
power to restore him to life. "And they brought the 
lad alive" to the upper chamber, "and were not a lit- 
tle comforted." 

Then they partook of the Supper, appointed by their 
Lord in the upper chamber in Jerusalem, and then "He 
talked a long while, even until break of day." 



i88 



The Life of St Paul 



In the morning Paul's companions started by ship to 
sail around Cape Lectum to Assos, "minding himself 
to go afoot " and alone across it. That lone walk from 
Troas to Assos was a pleasing incident in the history 
of the Apostle. Away from the noise of busy streets 
and the murmurs of synagogues, away even from the 
sound of worship in Christian homes and upper cham- 
bers, away from the voices of all earthly friendship, he 
sought solitude, as did his Lord on Olivet and the 
mountains of Galilee. 

He departed at early dawn on his walk of twenty 
miles. Was it when the stars disappeared and at last 
the morning star melted away in the brighter light that 
streamed over the top of Mount Ida that he noticed 
how one star differed from another, and how there is 
one glory of the sun; of which he spoke at another 
time ? As he went along the Roman road that skirted 
the base of the mountain, shaded by the oak woods — 
then in the fullness of their foliage — did he not recall 
in contrast the journey through the deserts of Arabia, 
and remember through what scenes he had passed 
since that day ? 

His walk ended. He entered Assos and descended 
to the sea by the streets whose steepness gave mean- 
ing to the proverb, "Go to Assos and break your 
neck." On the shore he found the vessel with his 
friends, or watched its coming. He went aboard, and 



Fifth and Last Journey to Jerusalem 189 

soon the theatre and the citadel perched on a lofty 
rock were lost to sight, and Mount Ida faded in the 
twilight. The ship cast anchor because in the dark- 
ness it could not thread its way through the narrow 
creeks and many islands. 

The next stopping-place was Mitylene, the chief city 
of the beautiful island of Lesbos, the largest in the 
/Egean sea. After passing the blooming gardens of 
the island of Chios, Paul was not far from the Queen 
city of Asia, but he '-'had determined to sail by Ephe- 
sus" that it might be "possible for him to be at Jeru- 
salem the day of Pentecost." 

But as he looked toward Ephesus and remembered 
the loving Christian friends whom he could not bid 
farewell when he was compelled to flee, he felt 
that he could not leave the region without some com- 
munication with them. So on arriving at Miletus, he 
sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to 
come to him. What good news was this for it, and 
what deep regrets there were that all could not meet 
him. The elders were quick to obey the summons 
and, bearing the greetings of the Christian band, has- 
tened to Miletus. Joy quickened their steps and short- 
ened their way of twenty miles or more. What a 
meeting was that between the Apostle and those to 
whose care had been entrusted the Christian work in 
their heathen city. The place of meeting was no 



190 The Life of St Paul 

church building or private home. As Paul had met 
Lydia and her company of women at Philippi on the 
riverside, he met the Ephesian elders on the seashore. 
What a contrast this to the neighboring theatre of 
Miletus which is to-day a silent ruin. What was there 
said and done, and by whom, has long been forgotten; 
but that scene on the solitary beach is still distinct, and 
the words there spoken will echo round the world to 
the end of time. It was a short sermon by Paul, full 
of beauty and tenderness. Luke says, "When he had 
thus spoken, he kneeled down and prayed with them 
all. And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul's neck 
and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words 
which he spake that they should see his face no more. 
And they accompanied him unto the ship." 

Paul's vessel touched at Rhodes, noted for its roses, 
its Temple of the Sun and the great Colossus. This 
last had been greatest of the Seven Wonders of the 
world. One hundred feet in height, the sailors watched 
it from afar. Standing across the harbor vessels passed 
under it. Every finger of the image was as large as a 
man. An earthquake made this vast monster of hu- 
man toil to totter and fall upon the beach where Paul 
must have seen it, and where it lay for ages until the 
brass of which it was composed was carried away on 
the backs of nine hundred camels. 

At Patara, on the southwestern coast of Asia Minor, 



Fifth and Last Journey to Jerusalem 191 

Paul changed his vessel for one that would take him to 
Tyre on the Syrian coast. At Troas he had left his 
cloak for which he longed afterward in his Roman 
dungeon, but which he did not need these summer 
nights upon the sea. We may think of him as stand- 
ing on the deck thinking of the first time he sailed over 
it, a light-hearted boy on his first journey to Jerusalem 
with his Jewish father instead of Christian compan- 
ions. We know not whether that father still lived in 
Tarsus or was buried in one of its sepulchres; whether 
he had listened kindly and believingly to the great 
Apostle, his own son; or, in disappointment and sad- 
ness — perhaps in bitterness — mourned that his beloved 
Saul was not numbered among the greatest of the 
Pharisees and the Scribes. 

. The vessel remained seven days at Tyre. This gave 
time for Paul to visit the church there. His friends 
besought him not to go up to Jerusalem because of 
danger from his enemies. But like his Lord in like 
danger, "he set his face steadfastly to go up to Jeru- 
salem," believing that his Lord called him thither. As 
at Miletus, there was a meeting on the seashore. Luke 
draws the picture for us, saying, "They all brought us 
on our way with wives and children till we were out 
of the city ; and we kneeled down on the shore and 
prayed." 

Paul continued his voyage to Ptolemais, the modern 



192 The Life of St Paul 



Acre. Here it ended. Following the road at the base 
of Mount Carmel, thirty-five miles brought him to 
Caesarea. Here again Christian friends begged him not 
to venture himself into Jerusalem. He gave answer in 
these memorable words, " What mean ye to weep and 
to break mine heart ? For I am ready not to be bound 
only, but also to die at Jerusalem." He was being 
guided and encouraged by his Lord. 

" He saw a hand they could not see 
W T hich beckoned him away; 
He heard a voice they could not hear 
That would not let him stay." 

We can think of his repeating entire what he said in 
Miletus : "And now behold, I go bound in the spirit 
to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall 
me there; save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every 
city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But 
none of these things move me, neither count I my life 
dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with 
joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord 
jesus, to testify the Gospel of the Grace of God." 

Seventy-five miles in three days brought Paul to Je- 
rusalem, thus ending his Third Missionary Journey. 



CHAPTER XXXI 



Paul's Lost Days in Jerusalem 

Paul's last visit to Jerusalem was in the season of 
which David sang unto the Lord — "Thou crownest 
the year with Thy goodness; and Thy paths drop fat- 
ness. Thy pastures are clothed with flocks ; the val- 
leys also are covered over with corn; they shout for 
joy, they also sing." 

Tens of thousands of pilgrims from all parts of the 
Holy Land and from distant countries were assembling 
at the Pentecostal feast of thanksgiving. The houses 
and streets of the city were crowded. Mount Moriah 
was covered with tents. Many a youth was making 
his first visit to Jerusalem full of excited joy. Many a 
man was making his last: among these was Paul. 

Claudius Lysias was the Roman commander at Jeru- 
salem. He had many soldiers in the fort of Antonia, 
adjoining the Temple. 

After his arrival in the city, Paul seems to have spent 
his first evening with the disciples. The next day he 
attended a meeting of the officers of the church, led by 
the venerable Apostle James. Paul and the brethren 
who had come with him received "the kiss of charity " 

193 



194 The Life. of St Paul 

— the common sign of Christian affection. The money 
they had brought for the poor Christians in Jerusa- 
lem was presented. Then Paul delivered an address, 
telling what he and his companions had done among 
the Gentiles in four years. With what deep interest 
they must have listened to his story of the dangers and 
trials through which he had passed, but much more of 
his ministry which God had blessed in turning men 
from the worship of idols; and of the churches he had 
visited. 

He spent the next day in the company of his Chris- 
tian friends. His presence in Jerusalem was soon dis- 
covered by his enemies; not only those of former 
years, but some from the regions in which he had trav- 
eled. They were all still full of hate and revenge. 
One day "the Jews which were of Asia, when they 
saw him in the Temple, stirred up all the people, and 
laid hands on him, crying out, Men of Israel, help. 
This is the man that teacheth all men everywhere 
against the people, and the law and this place." These 
false charges caused great excitement. Paul, probably 
the holiest man in the Temple at that hour, was 
dragged from it by a shouting mob. 

At Csesarea Paul had declared his readiness "not to 
be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the 
name of the Lord Jesus." The hour had come for him 
"to be bound only " for he was not " to die at Jerusa- 



St. Paul Attacked by the Jews at Jerusalem Gustave Dore 



Paul's Last Days in Jerusalem 195 

lem." The doors of the Temple, opened for worship, 
were closed against the murderous throng, that the 
sacred courts might not be profaned with blood. Paul 
was rudely taken from one court to another. Roman 
guards who were pacing the colonnades of the Temple 
hastened to quell the riot. In haste they sent for Ly- 
sias the governor. He rushed into the court, sword in 
hand. The mob ''left off beating Paul." Lysias took 
him and commanded him to be bound with two chains. 
Once more he was what he called himself "a prisoner 
of Jesus Christ." He was hurried along by the excited 
crowd to the barracks within the castle. Being led up 
a flight of stairs, he was lifted from his feet and carried 
on the shoulders of the throng, while they shouted, 
" Away with him " — repeating the very cry concerning 
his Lord when. Pilate brought Him forth before a mob 
of like spirit. In the confusion, Lysias thought per- 
haps Paul was the pretended Messiah, an Egyptian 
who had deceived many people, and made a tumult 
which Felix had quelled by slaying four hundred of 
them while their leader escaped. Lysias asked Paul, 
"Art thou not that Egyptian?" Paul replied that he 
was a Jew of Tarsus, and added, "I beseech thee to 
suffer me to speak unto the people." Lysias, seem- 
ingly awed by his presence, consented. 

Standing on the castle stairs, he secured the silence 
of his vast and strange audience. His first words must 



196 The Life of St Paul 

have sounded equally strange— " Men, brethren and 
fathers." The storm was for a time changed to a 
calm. He told them the story of his life, of his years 
with their honored Rabbi Gamaliel; of his persecution 
of Christians in Jerusalem, keeping the raiment of them 
that slew Stephen; of his journey to Damascus and his 
vision of the Lord Jesus who had said, "I will send 
thee far hence to the Gentiles." That hated word 
Gentiles angered them so that they would not listen to 
him any longer. Raging and howling, cursing and 
gnashing their teeth, flinging their arms wildly about, 
waving their blue and red robes, and tossing handfuls 
of dust in the air, they yelled, "Away with such a fel- 
low from the earth; it is not fit that he should live." 
Lysias, not knowing the Hebrew language in which 
Paul was speaking, did not understand why the silence 
was broken, and the angry cries and actions renewed. 
He imagined that Paul must be guilty of some great 
crime. So he commanded that he should be taken into 
the barracks and examined by scourging until he made 
a confession of guilt. His hands were tied, his back 
stripped bare, he was made to bend forward to receive 
the blows near the spot where his Lord had been 
scourged. Three times his back had already been 
scarred with Roman lictors' rods, and five times with 
Jewish thongs; and now the whip was to be added. 
When speaking of Saul's father being a Roman citi- 



Paul's Last Days in Jerusalem 197 

zen and his son likewise, it was remarked that this 
would be a help and protection to him in trouble. 
This now became true. A centurion stood by to see 
that the command of Lysias for scourging was obeyed. 
Paul cried out, "Is it lawful for you to scourge one 
that is a Roman and uncondemned ? " That question 
saved him from a cruel beating. It was reported to 
Lysias who was also afraid after he knew that Paul 
was a Roman, and because he had bound him. Paul 
was then untied, the scourge being unused. The next 
day Lysias called together the Sanhedrin in the same 
hall where Paul himself had once sat as one of the 
judges. Ananias, the former high priest, conducted 
the trial. Probably the two sons of Gamaliel and 
school-fellows of Paul were there; and Theophilus, 
the old high priest who gave him the letters to Da- 
mascus twenty years before. The innocent Apostle 
boldly faced his seventy judges. "And Paul, ear- 
nestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, 
I have lived in all good conscience before God." An- 
anias commanded them that stood by to smite him on 
the mouth. Paul was so indignant at the injustice, 
and meanness and the insult that in a moment of 
anger he said, "God shalt smite thee, thou whited 
wall." In another moment he was calm and con- 
demned himself for what he had said. But his words 
were to come true: God did in justice smite Ananias, 



198 The Life of St Paul 

who in a few years was driven from Jerusalem and 
murdered. 

Paul in his speech spoke of the Resurrection from 
the dead. This caused a great quarrel between the 
Sadducees who did not believe in the Resurrection and 
the Pharisees who did believe in it as Paul did. These 
latter befriended Paul, but he was still in so great dan- 
ger that the chief captain sent soldiers to bring him to 
the castle for safety. 

Thrown into a cell in the Roman barracks, Paul's 
future appeared very dark. He was ready to die at 
Jerusalem, but he felt that he "must see Rome." 
That purpose must now seemingly be abandoned. 
But at midnight while on his bed of straw, the Lord 
appeared unto him and said, " Be of good cheer, Paul; 
for, as thou hast testified for me in Jerusalem, so must 
thou bear witness also at Rome." At a future time of 
trouble we shall hear him saying, "I believe God." 
Doubtless he did now even while asking himself, 
" How can this be ? " 

Had he known what was passing without, the mys- 
tery would have deepened, and there would have 
been reason for still greater trust in God. Forty Jews 
promised each other that they would neither eat nor 
drink until they had killed Paul. They made known 
their purpose to 'the chief priests and elders, and pro- 
posed to have them join in a plot for murder. Lysias 



Paul's Last Days in Jerusalem 199 

was to be asked to call another meeting of the Sanhe- 
drin for another trial, which was not to be held be- 
cause on the way from the castle to the judgment 
hall Paul was to be seized and killed. So the bargain 
was made, as had been another with Judas for the be- 
trayal of Jesus. 

But the horrid oath was not kept secret. It came to 
the ears of a lad in Jerusalem. He had a special inter- 
est in Paul, for he was the son of that sister of whom 
we knew in the home in Tarsus in the childhood of 
Saul. His thought was, ' ' What can I do to save my 
uncle ? I can at least let him know what I have 
heard." Appearing at the castle gate, he was ad- 
mitted and soon was alone with Paul, telling him of 
the plot. He must have had some fears of what 
might happen to himself if the forty men learned that 
he was revealing their fearful secret. 

Paul called a centurion and asked him to take the 
lad to Lysias. It must have been a great relief to the 
nervous and fearful boy when the governor took 
him by the hand and went with him aside privily and 
asked, "What is it that thou hast to tell me?" The 
lad told of the plot of the forty men. The kind man- 
ner of Lysias must have given him great confidence, 
or he would not have dared to say to the most power- 
ful man in Jerusalem, " Do not now yield unto them." 
He would be careful to obey the charge given him, 



200 The Life of St Paul 

"See thou tell no man that thou hast showed these 
things to me." 

Lysias immediately formed a plan to defeat the plot. 
He called several officers and told them to be ready at 
nine o'clock in the night, with two hundred soldiers, 
seventy cavalry, and two hundred lancers or spear- 
men, to take Paul to Caesarea to Felix, the governor. 
These four hundred and seventy guards of the one 
Apostle were ready at the appointed hour at the gate 
of Antonia. The forty sleepless and hungry plotters 
must have wondered what all this meant, not thinking 
that Paul was escaping like a bird out of the snare of the 
fowler. Nor were they thinking of the sleepless lad, 
who was thinking of them as he heard the tramp of the 
horsemen and of the foot soldiers of this night-march 
which he had helped to start for his uncle's escape. 

The journey from Jerusalem to Caesarea was seventy- 
six miles. The foot soldiers went only part way. 
The rest after two hard days entered Csesarea and de- 
livered the Apostle prisoner to Felix; also the letter 
Lysias had written to him about Paul. In it he told of 
the things of which the prisoner was accused, the 
council in which he was tried, the plot to kill him, 
and of his giving notice to Paul's accusers to appear 
before Felix if they had anything to say. 

Felix read the letter and said to Paul, "I will hear 
thee when thine accusers are also come." 



St. Paul before Felix From an old print 



CHAPTER XXXII 



Two Years in Caesarea 

Let us think of Paul, the innocent Apostle of Jesus 
Christ, a prisoner in chains on trial before Felix the 
Roman governor. The Jews had hired a lawyer 
Tertullus to speak against him. He began by flatter- 
ing Felix, telling him how glad the people were be- 
cause he had punished robbers, and deceitful men who 
had led others astray. He tried to prove that Paul was 
such a man and deserved punishment. He charged 
him with making trouble among the Jews; of being 
the ringleader of the Christians whom he ridiculed by 
calling them Nazarenes; and that Paul was guilty of 
profaning the Temple by saying and doing in it im- 
proper things. As Tertullus spoke the Jews present 
cried out saying that these things were so. 

Felix beckoned to Paul to answer him if he wanted to. 
The Apostle made a speech proving his innocence. 
Felix had no doubt of this, but he would not say so 
for fear of displeasing the enemies of this poor hated 
prisoner. He told them he would put off the decision 
a short time. He gave orders to have Paul put into 

201 



202 



The Life of St Paul 



prison, but not to be cruelly treated, and that his 
friends might visit him there. 

Drusilla was the wife of Felix. She had been very 
beautiful in face, but not in character which had been 
and still was very bad. She was a Jewess, and doubt- 
less from childhood had heard much about Paul, and 
was now curious to see and hear him. So she and 
Felix sent for him to come to a room in their palace. 
Its carved ceiling and benches covered with rich 
Tyrian dye were a great contrast to the rude things in 
his prison. So were the gorgeous robes of Drusilla 
and Felix, to the prison garb of Paul. But greater 
than all was the contrast between the guilty pair, and 
the innocent Apostle of Jesus Christ. The by-standers 
looked on them in their pride of riches and power; 
and on him in his poverty and helplessness. Did any 
one remember the words of the prophet Samuel 
spoken eleven hundred years before? — "The Lord 
seeth not as man seeth; for man Iooketh on the out- 
ward appearance, but the Lord Iooketh on the heart." 

Paul's life was in the hands of Felix. Would he 
dare to reprove him and his wife of sin, and plainly 
tell them of judgment to come ? Did he not fear that 
the governor would become angry and send him back 
to prison for severer punishment ? This did not keep 
him from speaking boldly and plainly the truth of 
God, whose minister he was. 



Two Years in Caesarea 203 



" No more he feels upon his high raised arm 
The ponderous chain, than does the playful child 
The bracelet, form'd of many a flowery link. 
Heedless of self, forgetful that his life 
Is now to be defended by his words, 
He only thinks of doing good to them 
That seek his life." 

For a few moments " Felix trembled, " as his guilty 
conscience troubled him. But he tried to hush it and 
to drive away serious thoughts, saying to Paul, "Go thy 
way for this time; when I have a convenient season I 
will call for thee." He did send for him often, but 
not to have Paul teach him about Jesus and how his 
sins could be forgiven and how his conscience could 
be at peace. He hoped that in some way, perhaps 
through the Christians in Caesarea, Paul might secure 
money and pay Felix for his release. Paul, refusing 
this, was kept in prison two years longer. Yet he was 
probably allowed to see his friends. V/hen the Chris- 
tians in Caesarea wept over his going to Jerusalem, 
they little thought that he would so soon return to 
them, that they could be a comfort to him in his lone- 
liness, and he be their comforter and teacher so long. 
Timothy was a frequent visitor ever welcome: so was 
'■ Philip the Evangelist" and his four pious daughters; 
and so Cornelius the Centurion rejoicing to hear from 
Paul in prison the same Gospel he had heard from 
Peter in his own house. It is supposed that Luke the 



204 The Life of St Paul 

beloved physician was much with him, writing his 
Gospel. 

It was during this time that Felix ordered the cruel 
massacre of Jews living in Syria. Why Paul was al- 
lowed to escape we do not know, but we do know 
that God had plans for him. Felix was hated for this 
massacre and other crimes, and could no longer be 
trusted as a governor; so he was recalled by the 
emperor of Rome. Before leaving Caesarea he might 
have released Paul whom he had unjustly kept in 
prison so long, still hated by his accusers. But he 
wished to do something to lessen their hatred to him- 
self. So "Felix, willing to do the Jews a pleasure, 
left Paul bound." How strange a "pleasure"! and 
what a cruel deed! 

Festus became governor in place of Felix. He was 
more just and honorable. Soon after arriving in 
Caesarea, he visited Jerusalem. Immediately the chief 
priests and others asked him to let Paul be brought to 
Jerusalem for trial before the Sanhedrin. Their real 
purpose was to have him murdered on the way. 
Festus refused their request and told them that if they 
had anything to say against him they must do it in 
Caesarea, meeting him face to face. So they followed 
Festus to Caesarea where there was another trial. 

Festus soon saw that they were accusing Paul of re- 
ligious matters with which he as Roman governor 



Two Years in Caesarea 205 



had nothing to do. The prisoner had done nothing 
worthy of death. They proved nothing against him. 
Yet to satisfy them, he proposed to Paul to go to Jeru- 
salem and be there tried before the Sanhedrin. He 
promised to go himself and see that there was a fair 
trial. Paul understood what Festus did not, that going 
to Jerusalem would be his destruction. He addressed 
him in words like these: "lama Roman citizen, and 
have a right to be judged by Roman law. You know 
full well, O Festus, that I have not wronged the Jews 
in the least. If I am found guilty of any crime against 
the Roman law worthy of death, I will not refuse to 
die. But you know I have a right to be tried before 
the emperor in Rome." Then he suddenly exclaimed, 
"I appeal to Caesar." 

Festus was surprised, and not altogether pleased to 
have it appear that Paul could not have justice in his 
court; but he could not dispute Paul's right to be tried 
before the emperor and in the Roman capital. So he 
answered, "Hast thou appealed unto Caesar? Unto 
Caesar shalt thou go." 

That appeal not only changed the place of trial from 
Caesarea to Rome, but the whole of Paul's future. It 
was the first link in a long chain of events relating to 
him and the Church of God. He had longed to preach 
the Gospel in Rome, but had not been able. Now he 
saw by what way God would lead him there. 



206 



The Life of St Paul 



Within a day or two after Paul's appeal, Festus had 
a visit from King Agrippa II., and his sister Bernice. 
Festus told him of the troublesome case of Paul his 
prisoner. It could not be hoped that such a man as 
Agrippa would have any sympathy for Paul, or care 
for Jesus Whom Paul preached. His great-grandfather 
Herod had been the murderer of the innocent children 
to destroy the infant Jesus. His great-uncle Antipas 
had beheaded John the Baptist, the forerunner of 
Jesus. His father Agrippa I. had executed James, an 
Apostle of Jesus. 

Festus told Agrippa how Paul was hated by the 
Jews because he preached about Jesus Who was dead, 
Whom Paul said was alive; and that he had appealed 
to Csesar. "Then Agrippa said unto Festus, I would 
also hear the man myself. To-morrow, said he, thou 
shalt hear him." And so he did. 

The place of meeting was not the court room con- 
taining the judgment seat, but a drawing-room in the 
palace. The occasion was one of grand display for 
Festus and his noted guests. The company consisted 
of Jews and Gentiles, chief officers of the army, and 
the aristocracy of Caesarea. We can image the scene. 
Festus and his officers wore their bright scarlet mili- 
tary cloaks. We are told expressly that Agrippa and 
Bernice came "with great pomp," which would mean 
with his purple robes and her dazzling jewels and 



Two Years in Caesarea 207 

golden head-band, and with their attendants in gor- 
geous dress. For the royal personages there were 
gilded chairs behind which stood the lictors and body 
guard with their military arms. 

Amid all this vain show Agrippa might have had 
solemn reflections, remembering how his proud father 
sixteen years before had come "with great pomp" 
into the neighboring theatre with his royal silver robes 
glittering in the sun until he was smitten with death 
when the people shouted that he was a god. 

In our record of that event, it was suggested that 
Paul may have witnessed the scene. If so he must 
have remembered it, though Agrippa did not. He 
must also have remembered another — that in Damas- 
cus when the Lord said to Ananias concerning Paul, 
"He shall stand before kings." As he is now led be- 
fore them, pale from his long confinement, hated by 
some and ridiculed by others, friendless and power- 
less, our pity and indignation are kindled; but there 
rings in his ears his Lord's promise made in a. vision, 
"I will be with thee." Though the lictors behind the 
royal chairs reminded him of those in Philippi, though 
the chain that bound him to his guard told of shame 
and captivity, he was the noblest Roman, the noblest 
man of them all because he was the Lord's freeman 
and the Lord's nobleman. 

Such he proved himself to be when "Agrippa said 



208 The Life of St Paul 

to Paul, Thou art permitted to speak for thyself." 
"He stretched forth his hand." Did the clanking of 
its chain strangely mingle with his own voice ? — that 
voice now calm and earnest and solemn in which he 
"answered for himself." He told the story of his 
own life; how he had persecuted the friends of Jesus, 
shutting them up in prison and aiding in their death; 
how he saw a light from heaven and heard the voice 
of Jesus and obeyed His call to preach salvation to the 
Gentiles; how for doing this the Jews hated him and 
persecuted him though he preached only what Moses 
and their other prophets said concerning Jesus "that 
Messiah should suffer and that He should be the first 
to rise from the dead, and should show light to the 
House of Israel and also to the Gentiles." 

Thus far Festus had listened in silence, though as 
Paul spake he became more and more excited until, 
interrupting the speech he exclaimed, "Paul, thou art 
mad — an insane man believing things that are neither 
true nor wise." Paul calmly replied, "I am not mad, 
most noble Festus, but speak forth the words of truth 
and soberness." 

Turning to Agrippa, Paul said, " King Agrippa, dost 
thou believe the prophets ? I know that thou believ- 
est." The king answered in respectful words, but his 
manner had something of playfulness and contempt: 
" You are trying to persuade me to become a Chris- 



Two Years in Caesarea 209 



tian." Paul answered him as if he had spoken in 
earnest. Holding up his hands heavy with chains he 
said, "I would to God that not only thou but all that 
hear me this day were both almost and altogether 
such as I am except these bonds." 

What a declaration ! It is as if he had said, " Though 
I am a prisoner in bonds unjustly treated here, with 
dark prospects before me, not knowing how I shall be 
treated in Rome, I am better off and happier than 
you." 

Neither Festus nor Agrippa wanted to hear any 
more. Their curiosity was satisfied. They did not 
care to know the truth. So the scene ended and Paul 
was led back to his gloomy prison to stay till some 
passing ship should receive him and, beneath the 
bright blue sky, bear him over the Mediterranean to 
the city of which he had once said, without knowing 
when or how he could go thither — "I must see 
Rome." 



CHAPTER XXXIII 



The Shipwreck 

Once more Paul is on the sea: he is sailing from 
Csesarea for Rome. We might say he is beginning 
his fourth missionary journey. It is not so called; it 
was not his own planning; he was not able to direct 
his own way. But his spirit and purpose were the 
same, to preach the Gospel wherever he went, and 
in whatever circumstances. Paul the prisoner, sailing 
from Caesarea, was no less Paul the Apostle than when 
he sailed from Seleucia on his first journey. The same 
Holy Spirit which separated him from other Christians 
for Apostolic work was with him still. Paul had 
planned a journey to Rome: he was apparently de- 
feated in his purpose. But a wiser than he formed his 
plan anew, sure of accomplishment. 

Paul was in charge of a Roman officer named Julius, 
an honorable, just and kind man. He had probably 
heard Paul's address before Agrippa, and perhaps had 
become acquainted with him, and discovered some- 
thing of his goodness and greatness. Such impres- 
sions were deepened on the voyage. 

210 



The Shipwreck 2 1 1 

It was the month of August. The season for safe 
navigation was nearly closed. The vessel was no 
palace steamer. Like the Greek and Roman ships of 
that day, it was rudely built and rigged; having one 
large mast, through whose head passed strong ropes; 
and one large sail. It was steered by two paddle-rud- 
ders. Easily strained and exposed to leakage, it was 
in danger of foundering; the way in which many 
ancient vessels were lost. Ropes were carried for 
binding the hull when weakened by storm. On the 
prow was a painted eye, as if seeking direction and 
watching against danger. Its ornaments were figures 
of heathen divinities, to whom idolatrous and supersti- 
tious sailors looked for protection. 

On such a vessel was Paul and other prisoners with 
Julius the commanding officer, soldiers, sailors and 
passengers. Two of Paul's old companions were 
with him, possibly fellow-prisoners. One was Luke, 
and the other Aristarchus. 

Leaving Caesarea, the vessel with a fair wind reached 
Sidon, sixty-seven miles distant, the next day. From 
its coast many had gone afar to hear Jesus for Whom 
Paul was now a prisoner. To it Jesus Himself had 
come and rewarded the faith of a Gentile mother by 
healing her afflicted daughter. Here " Julius treated 
Paul kindly and gave him leave to go unto his friends 
to refresh himself." Two years of prison life and fare 



212 



The Life of St Paul 



affected his already shattered health. It is not likely 
that he had the comforts and necessities of a long 
voyage. His call at Sidon gave opportunity for both 
spiritual and bodily refreshment. 

On leaving Sidon, the experience of Paul and his 
company was like that of the disciples on the sea of 
Galilee — "the winds were contrary." The direct 
course to Asia Minor, whither the vessel was bound, 
was that of Paul two years before, near the southern 
coast of Cyprus; but the opposing wind drove them 
around the eastern and northern sides. Paul could not 
forget his journey over the same waters with Barna- 
bas. Passing under the mountains of Cilicia, gazing 
for the last time on their loftiest peaks, what memory 
he had of Tarsus on the plain below, and of perils in 
the fastnesses almost within his view. The vessel 
passed Perga and Attaleia, of which we already know, 
and anchored for the first time since leaving Sidon, at 
the port of Myra, an excellent harbor situated at the 
opening of a wonderful mountain gorge. Here was a 
large wheat-ship from Alexandria bound for Italy. 
This seems a roundabout way of passing from Egypt 
to Italy, but we must remember that mariners did not 
then have the modern compass, and depended very 
much on the coast high-lands to show them the way. 
That Alexandrian vessel was to become historic, be- 
cause of one of the two hundred and seventy-six per- 



The Shipwreck 



213 



sons it carried, and he one of the prisoners whom 
Julius transferred to it. 

Leaving Myra, either calms or another contrary wind 
hindered their progress, so that it required many days 
of weariness and discomfort to sail one hundred and 
thirty miles to Cnidus. Passing under the island of 
Crete, the vessel "came unto a place which is called 
The Fair Havens," even to this day. 

"Now when much time was spent, and when sail- 
ing was now dangerous, Paul admonished them and 
said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will 
be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading 
and ship, but also of our lives." Paul knew by ex- 
perience much about the perils of the sea; and they 
soon learned the wisdom of his judgment. But the 
master of the vessel, and the owner who was on 
board, thought they knew more than he, and the cen- 
turion believed them rather than Paul. So weighing 
anchor, with a fair breeze, forgetful of the past and 
careless of the future, perhaps laughing at Paul as 
a poor sailor, the journey was continued. But with- 
out a moment's warning, all was changed. Down 
from the mountains of Crete rushed a most violent 
wind which struck the ship and whirled it round. 
The helmsman and his rudders were powerless. The 
sea was in commotion. The vessel was tossed upon 
it and driven before the gale. 



214 



The Life of St Paul 



Running under a certain island which is called 
Clauda, where the wind was not so fierce and the 
water was smoother, the sailors with great difficulty 
hoisted the small boat which had been in tow; and * 
then passed the ropes around the vessel to prevent if 
possible leakage and foundering; and then arranged 
the sails as sailors do when they call a ship lying-to. 
Thus it drifted from Clauda thirty-six miles in twenty- 
four hours. The storm continued, increasing in vio- 
lence. On the day after they left Clauda the vessel 
probably began to leak, notwithstanding the binding 
by the ropes, and so "they began to lighten the ship " 
by throwing- overboard the heavy things that were the 
least necessary. Luke says "the third day we" — 
sailors and passengers — "cast out with our own 
hands the tackling of the ship." 

Then followed many days of fruitless labor and fa- 
tigue with increasing anxiety and confusion. Adding 
to the terror of the scene was a clouded sky in which 
" neither sun nor stars in many days appeared." The 
mariners could not watch the stars to guide their 
way. They were in constant fear of a dangerous 
coast. The leaking continued. Luke's brief, sad 
record is in these words: "All hope that we should 
be saved was then taken away." Even he shared in 
the hopeless feeling. Without regular food — and 
what they had probably in a spoiled condition — 



St. Paul Shipwrecked Gustave Bore 



The Shipwreck 215 



drenched and cold, despair seized the whole company. 
But there was one exception — that was Paul. While 
others were yielding to it, he was engaged in earnest 
prayer. Neither discomfort nor danger, nor opposi- 
tion to his counsels, nor these combined could disturb 
his calmness which was so unlike the fear and anguish 
about him. There was a great contrast between the 
reeling ship and his firmness; between the darkness, 
and the heavenly light within him; between bodily 
weakness, and spiritual strength; between the de- 
spairing cries about him, and his calm voice; between 
the painted eye on the ship's prow, and the All-seeing 
Eye upon him; between the ornamental images of 
powerless false gods, and the Almighty Ruler over all. 

Has any painter ever attempted that sublime scene 
on the Mediterranean suggested by these few words — 
" Paul stood forth in the midst of them." He first re- 
proved those who had despised his counsel — now 
shown to have been wise — and thus endangered the 
lives of all. With dignified tone and manner he cried 
out, "Sirs, you should have hearkened unto me." 
But immediately he had a word for all, "Now I exhort 
you to be of good cheer." All must have thought this 
very strange. They saw nothing that gave promise 
of good cheer. They were no more ready to heed his 
exhortation than they had been his advice. He as- 
sured them that there would be no loss of any man's 



216 The Life of St Paul 

life, though there would be of the ship. His confi- 
dence must have startled them. Perhaps it inspired a 
little hope even against hope. But what reason could 
he give for so bold a declaration ? One little word — 
"For" — confirmed it, as he continued, " There stood 
by me this night the angel of God, Whose I am and 
Whom I serve." 

Now, as they contrasted his calmness with the storm 
and their own terror, they could understand the reason 
therefore ; it was his confidence in God. We may think 
of Paul as having talked of the true God during the 
voyage as the One Whom he served. With what close 
attention they listened to what the angel had said — 
"Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar." 
" Fear not" — so said Jesus to the Twelve in another 
storm. So had He spoken in a vision to Paul in Cor- 
inth. So in Jerusalem had "the Lord stood by him and 
said, Be of good cheer, Paul; for thou hast testified of 
Me in Jerusalem, so must thou also bear witness at 
Rome." The astonished ship's company was now pre- 
pared to believe that Paul was in communication with 
One greater than Caesar, and must be an innocent man. 

But the angel had not spoken of Paul only, he had 
given him the authority to declare the safety of 
others in these words: " Lo, God hath given thee all 
them that sail with thee." His prayer had not been 
for himself only. There would have been little satis- 



The Shipwreck 217 

faction in his being saved while witnessing the death 
of all the rest. 

Again he bade them be of good cheer, giving as the 
reason, "I believe God that it shall be even as it was 
told me." While the vessel was tossed on the billows 
helpless and forlorn, Paul had the assurance of the 
Psalmist when he declared, "The Lord sitteth on the 
floods, yea the Lord sitteth king forever." Their, 
angry noise did not trouble him. He could say, 
"Though the waters roar and be troubled, the Lord 
on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, 
than the mighty waves of the sea." His heart was 
fixed trusting in God because he could say, "I believe 
Him." Paul also uttered a prophecy which when ful- 
filled, would confirm all he said: it was this — "We 
must be cast upon a certain island." 

The prisoner became more than captain or owner or 
steersman or centurion. In God's sight he was the 
person on that vessel: all others were only sailing 
with him. Their lives were a gift to him. Were not 
some souls also given to be his joy and crown long 
after his journey of life was ended ? 

The gale continued. Each of fourteen dark days 
was followed by a darker night, during which the 
vessel was "driven up and down in Adria." At the 
last midnight, the practiced ear of the sailors distin- 
guished the sound of breakers from the other sounds 



218 The Life of St Paul 



of the storm. By the sounding-lead they found the 
lessening depth of the sea and knew that land was near. 
They anchored the ship and "looked anxiously for the 
day." Then they saw the certain island of which the 
angel told Paul. The sailors anxious, selfish, unmanly 
and deceitful, made an attempt to save themselves by 
lowering the small boat, pretending that they were at- 
tending to the anchors. Paul's quick eye and thought 
detected their purpose to escape. He knew their help 
was needed. So he exclaimed to the soldiers and 
centurion, "Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot 
be saved." The soldiers immediately completed the 
work the sailors had begun, by cutting the ropes to 
the little boat which dropped into the sea and drifted 
away in the darkness, without the disappointed crew. 
The grey dawn of the morning revealed how near de- 
struction the ship's company had been. Paul's assur- 
ances had not quite overcome their terror. Cold and 
wet, hungry and fatigued and fearful, they were a 
sad sight. While the day was coming on Paul again 
stood forth. He spoke of their long fasting and en- 
feebled condition, and of their need of food — however 
unsavory it might have become in the leaking ship. 
He repeated his assurance of final safety by saying, 
"There shall not a hair fall from the head of any of 
you." Taking bread and giving thanks to God, in 
whom he believed and whom he served, he began to 




St. Paul Shaking off the Viper From an old print 



The Shipwreck 



219 



eat. With the good cheer to which he had twice ex- 
horted them, they followed his example. They then 
lightened the vessel by casting out the cargo of wheat, 
doubtless water-soaked and useless. 

At last they were cheered by the sight of land, 
though they knew not its name. Discovering a creek, 
they purposed to enter it and land on the sandy beach. 
The foresail was set, the anchors taken up, the rudder 
bands loosened, and the vessel moved. But the fore 
part was stuck fast in a sand-bank concealed by the 
waves. Opposing currents struck the hinder part, 
which was driven to pieces by the violence of the bil- 
lows. In a few minutes, Paul's word had come true 
that there should be the loss of the ship. 

The soldiers saw that they could reach the land. 
So could the prisoners. If they escaped the soldiers 
would be severely punished by Roman authority. So 
they proposed to kill all the prisoners, thus dyeing the 
waters dashing over the breaking ship with the blood 
of those who had helped to save them from drowning. 
"But the centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them 
from their purpose." Once more could be said to 
Paul, " Lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with 
thee." The centurion gave orders that all the soldiers 
who could, should plunge into the water and swim to 
the shore. Not only they, but all escaped safe to land. 
From Paul's fourth shipwreck he was saved. 



CHAPTER XXXIV 



Island of Malta, — 44 Toward Rome " — In 
Prison 

On reaching land, it was found that the island was 
Melita, now called Malta. It was then uncultivated 
and covered with forests. It had not the dense popu- 
lation of to-day. The people were called barbarians, 
but they were better than many such so-called now. 
They showed their kindly spirit and welcome to the 
ship's company by building a fire to relieve the dis- 
comfort and suffering from rain and cold. That fire 
will never be forgotten. It is well remembered by 
every child who reads or hears the story of Paul's ship- 
wreck. He whose voice bade his companions to be of 
good cheer on the sea, did what he could to make 
them so on the land. Ready to do his part, or even 
more, for the comfort of all, he gathered sticks of 
wood and placed them on the fire. Hidden among 
them was a torpid viper, which was revived by the 
heat. Its first act was to fasten itself on his hand, 
piercing it with its poisonous fang. The rude island- 
ers were filled with horror. They well knew the 
usual effects of a viper's sting. They watched for the 

220 



Island of Malta, 221 

immediate swelling of his arm and other signs of 
poison throughout his body, which would end in 
death. They believed him to be guilty of murder or 
some other great crime, and that the viper was an in- 
strument of punishment even though he had escaped 
the dangers of the sea. But when he shook it off from 
his arm into the fire, and they saw it had done him 
no harm, they thought, as had the people in Lystra, 
that he was a god, and that neither sea nor viper 
could destroy him. We feel sure that he at once de- 
nied this and spoke of the True God as he did to the 
Lystrians who were ready to render him idolatrous 
worship. 

Paul did great and many wonders in the name of 
Him who had protected him from death. Publius was 
the governor of the island. For three days he cared 
for the shipwrecked strangers. His father was suf- 
fering from a terrible disease. Paul visited him, and 
put his hands upon him praying to God Who healed 
him. The wonderful news quickly spread through- 
out the island. Other sick came to him and were 
healed. In return for all this the islanders did what 
they could for the comfort of Paul and his companions 
during the three months of their stay, and supplied 
comforts and needs for the continued journey. 

Again they sailed for Italy. Again the Apostle of 
Jesus Christ was carried in a ship named after heathen 



222 The Life of St Paul 



divinities, Castor and Pollux, reminding him of idolatry 
wherever he went. Landing at Syracuse on the island 
of Sicily, where the vessel tarried three days, we may 
suppose Julius allowed Paul to go ashore as he had at 
Sidon. In the mixed population he would find oppor- 
tunity to preach the Gospel "to the jew first and also 
to the Gentile"; and so founding, as tradition tells 
us, the first Sicilian Church. 

An unfavorable breeze directed his ship's course to 
Rhegium, a city whose imagined protectors were the 
gods after whom the ship was named. Paul sailed on 
the bay of Naples, then as now noted as one of the 
most beautiful of earthly scenes. Vesuvius, as quiet 
as the day was calm, was decked with its vines of 
green. No one thought of the hidden fires beneath it 
that would soon destroy the fair but wicked cities of 
Pompeii and Herculaneum at its base, as those from 
heaven destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Little did 
Paul or the wife of Felix, who had so lately met in 
Csesarea, think that she and her child would perish to- 
gether in the awful catastrophe. 

As the Castor and Pollux landed at Puteoli, among 
the idlers and merchants crowding the pier, were 
Christians, the most cheering sight to Paul, desiring 
him to tarry seven days. Italian Christians had long 
looked for a visit from the Apostle, but not in chains. 
The news found a rapid way to Rome, where was 



Island of Malta 223 



formed a plan to give him a joyous welcome even 
before his eyes beheld the city. 

The Appian Way was the great road leading to 
Rome. Along it Paul walked, an old man, a prisoner 
led by a chain, shattered by years of labor and suffer- 
ing, just escaped from shipwreck, not knowing what 
trials of body and spirit he had yet to endure. No 
marvel if he who had been strength to others on the 
sea, was exhausted, weak and despondent on the 
land. He passed through villages of which only frag- 
ments of pavements and tombs remain; and by vine- 
clad hills and water courses lined with willows. 
Wearily he crossed the Pontine Marshes. He reached 
Appii Forum, then known as the meeting-place of 
vulgar crowds; but now remembered for a meeting of 
another kind. Hither Christians from Rome, on hear- 
ing of his coming, hastened forty miles to greet him. 
Among them were doubtless some he had known in 
the far East, little dreaming that they would one day 
meet him in circumstances so changed — their loved 
Apostle in bonds. Ten miles further on, at a place 
called Three Taverns, he met another company wait- 
ing to welcome and honor him, " whom, when Paul 
saw, he thanked God and took courage." With a 
lighter heart he went the remaining seventeen miles of 
his journey. 

At last from a summit he gained an extensive view 



224 



The Life of St Paul 



— of towns and villas on neighboring hills; of gardens 
and acqueducts; of roads from every direction meeting 
in a common centre — the great city of Rome. From 
that summit it was only a confused mass of buildings; 
for he could not distinguish the streets and open 
squares; nor hovels from palaces, theatres, colonnades, 
baths and temples. 

As he approached the city he met the signs of busy 
life — the varied costumes of many nations, and of the 
different classes of Romans; laborers, beggars and 
soldiers; wayfarers and horsemen; the gay and rich in 
palanquins carried by men, and those in carriages 
drawn by horses. Among them all, none cared for 
the forlorn prisoner. If they noticed him at all, it was 
with a feeling of pity or contempt for a supposed con- 
vict on his way to meet his just due of imprisonment 
or execution. 

Paul entered Rome in March, a. d., 6i. Passing 
under the arch of Porta Capena, he was led by his 
chain along the Via Sacra, which was more worthy of 
the name after his feet, weary and sore, had trodden 
it. No Roman general who had passed over it in 
pomp and pride, could compare with him in great- 
ness. The richest trophies of war ever carried over it 
were poverty itself compared with the treasures he 
bore. Beneath his soiled and tattered prison garb was 
concealed more of royalty than ever wore the purple 



Island of Malta. 225 



robe. No victor's car carried him ; but though a cap- 
tive in the eyes of men, he was a glorious conqueror 
in the sight of God. 

The Forum was the heart of Rome, the centre of its 
interests. There was the golden milestone where met 
the roads from all its provinces. Paul was probably 
led from there to the barracks of the Pretorian troops, 
the pride of the Roman army. The prefect then in 
command was Afranius Burrus, a noble-minded Ro- 
man and humane officer. 

If Julius delivered Paul to his keeping, it was most 
fortunate. In so doing he would certainly tell Burrus 
of the Apostle's life while with him, and of his belief 
in his innocence. But this would not secure his 
liberty. For two long years Paul waited for the trial 
that should have been held immediately, and set him 
free. 

Paul's prison life in Rome was not such as he had 
experienced in Caesarea. He was permitted to live in 
a hired house, but was compelled to have the constant 
attendance of a guard. This must have been exceed- 
ingly annoying to an active spirit like his, prompting 
him to go about doing good, as his Master did. His 
voice was not heard in the synagogue, nor street, nor 
market-place, nor schoolhouse, as it had been in other 
cities. His hired house was the meeting-place. There 
was always one whom he could teach — the guard at his 



226 The Life of St Paul 



side. Having a different one every few hours, many 
had the opportunity of learning Christian truth, and of 
seeing the Christian spirit in him. His character was 
a great contrast to that of many with whom they had 
to do; and his teachings were very different from any 
they had ever known. Many of them became Chris- 
tians. In the soldiers' barracks there was a Christian 
band. Its influence extended even to the royal palace: 
there were/' saints in Caesar's household." 

But soldiers were not the only listeners to Paul in 
his home. While Jews were his enemies, probably 
influencing the emperor against him, Gentiles visited 
him and welcomed his teachings. They were chiefly 
of the poor and lower classes, and slaves. He had the 
companionship of some of his old friends. Timothy 
and Luke, Aristarchus and others were still his helpers; 
coming to him for instruction, and then carrying mes- 
sages to the churches he had established, and bringing 
report of their condition. Sometimes he had visitors 
from those churches, bringing Christian greetings and 
money for his needs. Sometimes they carried back 
letters of affection and instruction, which are known 
as the " Epistles of the Captivity." 

We have little definite knowledge of Paul after his 
two years' imprisonment. Tradition begins where 
Luke's history ends in the Book of Acts. It is sup- 
posed that he was acquitted of the crimes with which 



Island of Malta 227 



he had been charged, and for which he had long suf- 
fered. Being set at liberty, he made other missionary 
journeys; some claim as far as Spain and even Eng- 
land, though this is very uncertain. From his letters, 
we know he went to Asia Minor, visiting old churches 
and perhaps founding new ones. Once more he 
preached the Gospel under the shadow of the temple 
of the goddess Diana at Ephesus; and again he looked 
across the Hellespont to the once heathen Europe, but 
where now many churches called him their Christian 
Father. 



CHAPTER XXXV 



The End 

It was on the 19th of July, a. d., 64, that a terrible 
fire broke out in Rome. It raged six days and seven 
nights, destroying temples and palaces and homes of 
every kind of the rich and poor, who had to seek 
shelter even in tombs of the dead. It is believed that 
Nero himself set fire to the city. Acting the part of a 
buffoon, he played upon a musical instrument while 
the city was burning; careless of the terror he beheld, 
and deaf to the shrieks of his wretched people. He 
charged innocent Christians with the burning of 
Rome. Then followed most bitter persecution. Mul- 
titudes of them were tortured to death. Some were 
disguised in the skins of bears and wolves, and, in the 
presence of twenty thousand spectators in the Colos- 
seum, mangled to death by famished dogs. Others 
were nailed to crosses, doomed to a lingering death 
of agony and shame. Others were covered with 
pitch and set on fire — living torches — illuminating the 
garden of Nero who mingled with the mob, dressed 
as a charioteer, driving heartlessly among his agonized 
victims. 

228 



The End 



229 



Paul was called the ringleader of the Christians. It 
is imagined that he was charged with exciting them, 
before he left Rome, to the burning of the city. He 
was brought back and imprisoned a second time — not 
in his own hired house, but in a dungeon of the Mam- 
ertine prison, still pointed out near the ruins of the 
Roman Forum. It is the oldest building in. Rome. 
Two cells remain. They are only six and one-half 
feet in height. There is a circular opening at the top 
through which prisoners were let down. At last there 
was a form of trial. Paul made a defence, but it 
made no impression on the magistrate and jury before 
whom he was tried. He was sent back to prison. 

During Paul's second imprisonment, he had very 
few friends to cheer him. They feared to go near 
him lest they should be compelled to share his fate. 
There was one whom he longed to see: it was 
Timothy then in Asia. To him he wrote the last of 
the "Seven Epistles of the Captivity." It was the last 
letter he ever wrote. It is tender and beautiful. He 
begs Timothy, " Do thy diligence to come unto me 
shortly." If he waited, it might be too late. He said, 
" Only Luke is with me " — the beloved and ever faith- 
ful physician and friend. Then he added, "Take 
Mark, and bring him with thee" — that same John 
Mark who had once left him, but to whom he would 
now show the kindest of feelings. 



230 The Life of St Paul 



Then there was a request which seems strange as a 
part of the Bible, but is an interesting hint of Paul's 
condition: "The cloak that I left at Troas with 
Carpus, bring with thee, but especially the parch- 
ments." We think of "the cloak" as his only one, a 
large, rough, sleeveless traveling garment which had 
done much service; and as one of his only two posses- 
sions. In his flight he had been compelled to leave it 
at Troas. Settled in his prison-home for life he 
wanted it again. He knew by experience what winter 
meant in that gloomy cold cell, with its rocky floor — a 
great contrast to the palace above him. Sixty-eight 
years of age, his body no longer had the glow of 
youth; it was weakened by age and suffering. What 
memories he had of that cloak. It is very likely he 
had woven it with his own hands from the black 
goats' hair of his own Cilicia; and that it had been his 
companion in circumstances of joy and sorrow — 
water-soaked in the Taurus mountain torrents and in 
the sea of Adria; covered with dust on Asiatic plains 
and Italian roads; stained with the soil of travel; his 
shelter when sleeping under the starry open sky, and 
infolding his bruised body in the sleepless inner prison 
in Philip pi. 

Paul wanted not only "the cloak," but even more 
" the parchments." These were rolls of skin on which 
portions of the Scripture were written — a very small 



The End 231 

part of the Bible as we have it, but very precious to 
him. They had been his companions even more than 
the cloak. Perhaps he had used them with his father 
and mother and sister in Tarsus; and studied them in 
the school of Gamaliel; and in his lodging-places, 
glancing at them as he paused a few moments in the 
weaving of goats' hair; and carrying them from house 
to house explaining them to all who would listen. 
How he missed them in the long dark days and the 
darker evenings in his dungeon. What a joy and en- 
couragement if he could have a portion of Isaiah, or 
some of the Psalms of David written in- affliction. 

It was in this letter that Paul summed up his life in 
the memorable words: "I have fought a good fight, 
I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 
henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of right- 
eousness." The last words which we have of Paul 
are the benediction which closes his letter to Timothy: 
"The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace 
be with you. Amen." 

At last Paul was taken from his dungeon to the 
place of trial before magistrate and jury. We know 
but little of it. Tradition helped by imagination gives 
us a picture of unjust judgment, and sentence of death 
by beheading. Guarded by centurion and soldiers he 
was led out of the Rome he had longed to enter as an 
Apostle, which he still was. Passing through the gate 



232 The Life of St Paul 

now called by his name he was led three miles, fol- 
lowed by a rabble whose morbid curiosity and hatred 
of Christians made them delight in horrible tragedy. 
The fatal spot was reached, the command was given 
to the executioner, the prisoner kneeled, the sword 
flashed, and the sacred head rolled in the dust. Paul 
had finished his course. We may think of him as re- 
peating, before the fatal stroke, the words he had 
heard from Stephen as he witnessed his martyrdom, 
"Lord Jesus, receive "my spirit." In no mere vision, 
of which he wrote to Corinthian Christians, but in a 
glorious reality, he was "caught up into paradise," to 
meet Him Who revealed Himself near Damascus as the 
persecuted Jesus of Nazareth. From that hour until 
his death, the changed persecutor gloried in the title 
by which he called himself, "Paul an Apostle of 
Jesus Christ." 

So the tyrant emperor of Rome had his pretended 
revenge, and the apostle entered on his glorious re- 
ward. 

Nero and Paul — history furnishes no other two 
names so contrasted as these. Living at the same 
time and in the same city, that contrast appears all the 
greater. It is hard to picture the unlikeness in their 
characters; the gross wickedness of the one, and the 
beautiful goodness of the other. 

Before Nero was thirty years of age he was guilty 



The End 233 

of almost every sin against which Paul had preached, 
without any of the virtues which he exhorted men to 
practice. He was not only a robber, liar, drunkard 
and glutton, but most of all a murderer again and 
again. He poisoned the noble boy who had a right 
to the throne, whose sister he married, treated her 
brutally, and ordered her to be slain. He killed his 
second wife by a kick. He planned to take the life of 
his mother by loosing the rafters of her bed-chamber, 
that they might fall upon her. Failing in this, he 
planned a yacht in which she was to sail, so that it 
would fall to pieces and she be drowned. This fail- 
ing, he ordered a servant to end her life with a dagger. 
We have already noticed his treatment of Christians. 
All this was before he was twenty-five years of age. 

Nero is remembered as frivolous, selfish, always 
seeking his own pleasure, vain, ungrateful, cruel and 
vicious, ever increasing in wickedness as he grew 
older, until he became the worst of men. He dis- 
graced the names of emperor, friend, son, husband, 
Roman, and even of man, in the sum of all his vil- 
lainies. For him no vice was too mean ; no crime too 
great. His name is but another for dishonor and 
shame. It became a cursed one in Rome. His reign 
of terror came to a sudden end. Learning of revolt 
against his rule at home and rebellion in other prov- 
inces, he planned yet other schemes of butchery, 



234 The Life of St Paul 

poison, fire and destruction by wild beasts. But he 
soon learned of the bitterness of feeling against him, 
and that his power was gone. Every officer in whom 
he had trusted turned against him: his palace was de- 
• serted by guards on whom he depended for pro- 
tection: he was robbed of golden treasure by his 
attendants: he was terrified by dreams and haunted 
by the conscience he had vainly tried to stifle. He 
sought a hiding-place. Fleeing barefooted and in dis- 
guise he heard the soldiers, who had obeyed his bid- 
ding, cursing his name. Learning that the Senate had 
determined to punish him with something of the cru- 
elty he had shown to others, he placed to his throat a 
dagger which was driven by a slave. Such was the 
tragic end of a life of tragedy. 

The life of Nero is a dark background for that of 
Paul, who, having noble traits in youth, had nobler in 
Christian manhood. He was ambitious, but his early 
mistaken ambition was at last sanctified. His mis^ 
taken zeal in the persecution of Christians he greatly 
mourned, and became yet more zealous in the Chris- 
tian cause. Most unlike Nero, the longer he lived, the 
more he illustrated the royal law of love to God and 
love to man. 

In this volume the attempt is made to show some- 
thing of what manner of man Paul was, and what 
manner of life he lived. We have seen something of 



The End 



235 



his labors, constant and earnest, as a teacher, a pastor 
and an apostle; in the synagogue, on the street, from 
house to house, among all classes of people — the rude 
and the refined, the ignorant and the learned, Jewish 
believers in the true God, and Pagan idolaters. Mean- 
while in poverty he labored with his own hands for 
his daily bread; and this in weakness and weariness, 
and painfulness; from cold, hunger, thirst and illness. 

But this was not the full measure of his sufferings 
of body and mind. Stoned at Lystra; three times 
beaten with Roman rods at Philippi and elsewhere; 
five times scourged with Jewish thongs; hunted and 
haunted by a Greek mob at Ephesus; seized by furi- 
ous Jews at Corinth and Jerusalem; fleeing from city 
to city in the darkness; a toiling pilgrim on cold, 
rugged mountains and hot, dusty plains; crossing 
swollen rivers and water-courses; shipwrecked again 
and yet again ; tossed a day and a night on a stormy 
sea; in prison for years, at Philippi, Jerusalem, Csesa- 
rea and Rome; in danger from mountain brigands 
and other lawless banditti in the wilderness, and from 
pitiless magistrates in the city; plotted against by 
Jews and Pagans; falsely accused of outrageous crimes 
and called a pestilent fellow; numbered with male- 
factors and punished as such; his person slandered, 
his teachings opposed; "in deaths oft," "killed all 
the day long," despairing of life until at last it ended 



236 The Life of St Paul 

in an ignominious death — such were some of the trials 
which Paul endured. 

But there were yet others for his unselfish and loving 
soul. He had a heart full of tender sympathy for 
others. He was anxious for all the churches he es- 
tablished. Those at Corinth and Galatia were es- 
pecially a sacred burden to him. He was saddened by 
professed Christians without the Christian spirit, some 
of whom were unfriendly to him. He had a keen 
sense of insult and injustice when treated with con- 
tempt and scorn by those whom he sought to bless. 
" Without were fightings, within were fears." Nerv- 
ous and sensitive, no wonder that sometimes he 
burned with indignation; and that in fear and tremb- 
ling and tears he was cast down; and at times life it- 
self seemed a burden. 

But this alone would be a very imperfect view of 
Paul. He himself would not have us dwell on these 
things. He tells us he was " not in despair," "not for- 
saken," "not destroyed." Though his outward man 
seemed to be perishing from day to day, the inward 
was renewed with ever-increasing power. His heavi- 
est afflictions were lightness itself compared with his 
future glory. His inner vision was so much keener 
than his outward, that he seemed not even to "look 
at the things which are seen " by mortal eyes. 

What elements we find combining in the making of 



The End 237 

his character — courage with courtesy; dignity with 
humility; strong passions with self-control; love for 
his fellow-men with supreme affection for his God; 
as the teacher of the greatest minds, and the sim- 
plest; as the greatest of preachers, reformers, and mis- 
sionaries; as the chief inspirer of Christian labor; as 
the wisest of human writers; above the Twelve 
Apostles, though calling himself unfit to be an Apostle; 
greatest of all the saints, though judging himself the 
least of all; he is the noblest figure, Christ only ex- 
cepted, in human history, which he has had no small 
part in making. 

We have caught many views of that figure, always 
pointing upward to the Apostle's God. Protected by 
Him, he confronted mobs of human demons. He 
boldly yet justly passed judgment on his guilty judges, 
who might fittingly have changed places with him, as 
they did in the mind of the Infinite Judge of all. 
Never quailing before kings, they trembled before him. 
He was evermore royal because loyal to the King of 
Kings, to whose throne he was bound with a golden 
chain more closely than to his Roman guard by one of 
shame. It reached down to his dungeon, which be- 
came the cage of a singing bird. 

The history of the Church of Christ on earth cannot 
be written without the name of Paul; nor can that of 
the world. In many ways while both shall last, it 



238 The Life of St Paul 

will be kept in everlasting remembrance. Many a 
Christian home contains its Paul. After two thousand 
years, cities and towns in countries of which Paul 
never knew keep his name ever fresh. No sooner did 
Africa begin to stretch forth her hands unto God than 
one of its streams was consecrated by his name, as are 
islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Damascus 
once closed all her gates against him, but now wel- 
comes the traveler through the gate of St. Paul. An- 
tioch and Rome thus cherished his memory. By 
that name many an humble Parish Church and grand 
Cathedral are known. Little did Nero dream of "St. 
Paul's in Rome." In all these the words of Paul echo 
every Sabbath for tens of thousands of worshipers. 

Paul wears the crown which he said was laid up for 
him, and points to others awaiting those who like 
him follow the Lord. 

" He who can part from country and from kin, 
And scorn delights, and tread the thorny way, 

A heavenly crown through toil and pain to win, — 
He who . . . 

Fights the good fight, and when at last the day 
Of fiery trials comes, can nobly fall, — 

Such were a saint, or more, and such the holy Paul." 



St. Paul the Apostle Artist unknown 



Chronology of the Life of St. Paul as given 
by Alford 

A. D. 



Ascension of Christ . . . . 30 

Stephen Stoned . . . . -37 
Paul's Conversion . . . -37 

Paul's First Journey to Jerusalem . . .40 
Paul's Arrival at Antioch . . . .41 
Death of James . . . . -44 
The Famine . . . . -44 

Paul's Second Journey to Jerusalem . . 44 

Paul's First Missionary Journey . . -45 
Paul's Third Journey to Jerusalem, to the Apostolic 

Convention . . . . . 50 
Paul Commences the Second Missionary Journey . 51 
Paul Arrives at Corinth . . . -53 
Paul's Fourth Journey to Jerusalem, and Third 

Missionary Journey . . . -54 
Paul's Abode at Ephesus . . . -55 
Paul's Fifth Journey to Jerusalem, and Imprison- 
ment . . . . . -5^ 
Paul is removed from Csesarea to Rome . . 61 



Paul's Imprisonment of two years in Rome . 61 to 63 

239 



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